Forsaken
by gleechild
Summary: Everyone wants a piece of a Bass, and C is being hit from all sides. Will he get his chance to try to fix things with B before its too late? And if so, how do you tell the woman you love why you abandoned her? Post 1x18.
1. Chapter 1

_This story is dedicated to **pokey**—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. I love you my dear!_

* * *

"Chuck, what are you still doing here? I thought you would have left hours ago," Bart asked as his son settled into a seat at the dinner table.

"I missed the flight, but I'll be taking a later one, commercially," Chuck drawled out with a shrug. "Figured I'd join you and Lily for dinner."

He'd sent a text to Blair as soon as the blonde returned a smile after he told her who he was. He told Blair that he was running late and would have to catch a later flight. He hadn't heard from Blair since. He didn't know what that meant, but he figured she'd gotten the text or else he would have heard from her when he didn't show.

He still wasn't sure if he was going to go and meet her. He hadn't even booked the later flight yet. He knew he could work up some excuse to not join her at all. But then he wouldn't get to see her for almost three months.

After his talk with his father, he wasn't sure if that would be a bad thing. While his father was describing everything that would change in Chuck's life, he realized the old coot was right. He wasn't ready for any of the stuff falling out of Bart's mouth. And as much as he loved Blair, though he'd never said those words to her—just to Nate—this love crap was new to him and he didn't realize how different things would have to be.

He told his father that Blair knew him. She knew him better than anyone else. That was the truth. She knew he'd never change. But he had been changing. He guessed now he had to prove himself right by continuing to behave the way he always had. Maybe he was putting Blair to the test, trying to see if she really did want to change him or wanted him the way he was. He didn't know what he was thinking. All he knew was that things had gone out of control way too fast.

He didn't want to get stuck with all these serious thoughts. All he wanted to think about was the fact that he had plans for little miss home decorator in a couple hours. She'd taken the bait: hook, line, and sinker. She had no problem coming by to "discuss the plans for his room".

Bart's eyebrows crinkled for a second, pondering, but then he shrugged, "That's too bad. What about Blair?"

"She, uh, went ahead I believe," Chuck said, shrugging again. In truth, he didn't really know where she was. He assumed she'd gone ahead with the flight because she still had to go to France anyway. And he _had_ told her he'd meet her later, so she should have figured on heading out the way she intended.

"I see," Bart said. If he was the type of person to show more emotion, he might have shown his confusion at Chuck's words, but he didn't show anything. Instead he just looked at his son for a moment before turning back to his meal.

The dinner continued for the next few minutes undisturbed. Chuck was asking Lily about the sight-seeing the two must have done on their honeymoon, feigning interest in trivial things. Chuck knew how to be charming with any woman really.

Dinner was about midway through when Bart received a phone call on his cell.

No one else at the table paid it any mind. Bart reached into his pocket to pull out the phone and glanced at the number. It wasn't a number he recognized, so he just shrugged and turned off the ringer before putting it back into his pocket.

As soon as the call went to voicemail, the dialer must have hung up and tried again immediately because the ringer went off again.

Bart sighed, "Excuse me." He left the table and went into the hall, answering the phone with a gruff, "Bass."

"We have your daughter," came a weirdly distorted voice.

"Excuse me?" Bart asked, not comprehending. "Who is this?"

"We have your daughter," the voice came again. "Don't contact the authorities. We'll be calling again, very soon."

With that, the line went dead.

Bart hesitated before he closed his phone, contemplating what that could possibly mean. He didn't have a daughter. Well, now he actually did.

He walked back into the dining hall. He didn't want to frazzle his wife's nerves, but he had to ask her. He settled down at the table, still emotionless.

"Where is Serena this evening?" Bart asked Lily, interrupting her conversation with Chuck.

"Oh, I'm sure she should be home any minute," Lily explained demurely. "She said she was having dinner out, but I should expect her soon."

Bart nodded slowly. He reached in his pocket and decided calling Serena directly was the best way to find out if she really was safe without frightening Lily.

He'd just found the seldom used number and was going to click 'Send', when someone entered the front hall entrance.

"Serena! It's so good to see you," Lily exclaimed from her seat.

Serena went straight to her mother and gave her a hug. She hadn't seen her mother in a week due to the honeymoon, and she had really missed her.

Bart breathed a sigh of relief and decided that the phone call had been a fluke and picked up his fork to begin eating again, wondering how prank callers had gotten a hold of his private line.

Serena settled next to her mother. She started to ask how her trip was when she realized Chuck was sitting across the table.

"What are you still doing here?" Serena asked, perplexed. "I thought you were going to Tuscany with Blair. Shouldn't you have left hours ago?"

"I missed the chopper," Chuck said, shifting slightly. Why was he feeling a little guilty about this whole thing? He needed to try to keep some things under wraps around Serena though. He hadn't thought about how pursuing his normal activities would get a monkey wrench being the brother to his _girlfriend's_ best friend.

"So, what? Did Blair just go alone?" Serena asked, getting perturbed. "Seriously, Chuck, you did not just send Blair off to Tuscany on _your_ father's private plane without you, did you?"

They all looked over at Bart when he uncharacteristically dropped his fork against his plate causing a loud clatter.

He had finally figured out what that call was about. It wasn't a prank call. It was very real…. and whoever called had managed to snag the wrong person.

Bart stood up, tossing his napkin on the table. He looked at Serena. "Get Eleanor Waldorf on the phone right now."

"What—?" Serena said, confused, reaching for her phone anyway.

"Now," Bart commanded.

Chuck just watched his father in confusion. Why the hell did he want to talk to Blair's mother?

Bart stalked to the edge of the room, pulling out his cell phone as he went, dialing quickly.

"Where's the helicopter now?" He listened. "And the plane?" he asked, knowing that since the helicopter reached Teterboro, Blair and the marketing team would have transferred to the plane immediately.

"Can you get a hold of the pilot?" he asked.

Chuck was standing up now too. He didn't understand what was going on, but something wasn't right.

Bart kept a hold of his cool. "I see. Thank you." He closed his phone and looked toward Chuck.

"You picked a good day to miss a flight, but you should have told Blair to wait for you," Bart said.

Chuck shook his head, confused. _What the hell?_

Serena had finally gotten a hold of Eleanor. She held up the phone for Bart, "She's here." She had heard what Bart said to Chuck and she didn't understand either.

"What is going on, Bart?" Lily asked.

He didn't answer his family directly but took a hold of Serena's phone and spoke into it. "Eleanor?"

"Yes, Bart, what is all this about?" Eleanor asked. She didn't usually speak to Bart Bass outside of social settings.

"Come to The Palace immediately. We have a problem," Bart said, making eye contact with his son.

"I really don't understand…" Eleanor started to ask.

Bart didn't want to say anything over the phone because Eleanor might start freaking out and do exactly what the kidnappers didn't want her to do—call the police.

"It's about Blair," Bart said gruffly.

"What about—" Eleanor started, but was once again interrupted by Bart.

"She's in trouble. Come here now," Bart commanded.

"Father, what is going on?" Chuck almost yelled, freaking out worse than he had earlier.

Bart hung up the phone, not wanting to speak with Eleanor and try to answer her questions any more than he could right now.

"Who knew you were supposed to be on that plane?" Bart asked his son.

"What?" Chuck asked, taken back by the new line of questioning. "Just Blair, Nate, and Serena I guess, why?"

"Someone else knew you were supposed to be there too," Bart explained. "And fortunately for you, you weren't. Unfortunately for Blair, she was and these people seem to think she's my daughter."

"I don't understand," Serena said. "What's going on? Where's Blair?"

Bart looked at her. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Chuck said angrily. "She's on a plane heading to Europe, where she's supposed to be!" Even if _he_ wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"My people are no longer in control of the plane."

Chuck tried to speak and say something, but he couldn't. He was too shocked.

"Who is?" Serena asked, her eyes wide as she finally understood that her best friend was not safe.

"I don't know." Bart answered.

"Well, do something!" Chuck commanded his father, as if he had the power to reach up into the sky and pull the plane back down to earth this very minute.

"There's nothing to do but wait," Bart said.

"For what!" Chuck said, panic flooding him.

"The next call," Bart said before he sat back down at his seat, picking up his fork to start eating again. There was only so much he could do. He wasn't going to panic. There wasn't any point. It still wasn't going to change the outcome. He knew there was always a possibility of something like this happening one day. He _was_ one of the richest men in the Upper East Side. Being a wealthy parent meant extra care and security when it came to a child. Ironically, he thought if something like this were going to happen, it would have happened when Charles was younger. He was very much relieved that his son was safe, though Eleanor would be arriving shortly and would have to receive the news that no parent ever wanted to hear: her child was missing and it would take a fortune to get her back.

"Then what?" Serena asked, her voice hoarse.

"Then we find out how much these people think Ms. Waldorf is worth."

* * *

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

_This story is dedicated to **pokey**—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. I love you my dear!_

* * *

"See?" she asked impishly, nibbling delicately on her cookie. "Definitely the number one reason for taking the jet."

Ben laughed and nodded. "You were correct, of course." He may have just met her, but she definitely seemed very self assured and confident. She wasn't the type of person to say something if she didn't mean it.

"I know," Blair said, shrugging.

She was trying to keep herself as upbeat as possible, but that was kind of hard considering that Chuck had just pulled a Nate—and he'd done it worse than Nate ever had.

She couldn't believe he'd blown her off. Well, he hadn't really been rude about it… and maybe Bart _had_ gotten back late… but shouldn't he have told her that? And shouldn't he have asked her to wait for him? He told her he was taking a commercial flight and he'd meet her there. He didn't explain anything. He was abrupt, and… come to think of it, he _was_ being rude.

Nate had never been that rude. Sure, he blew her off constantly, but he would have never done it on a trip across the Atlantic Ocean, to a country that was almost three hundred miles away from her father's vineyard. She was going to have to do everything by herself: find a way to the hotel, check-in, make sure all her luggage made it there. These were all things she probably wouldn't have a problem with… except once she arrived, she was going to be all alone… in a foreign country… waiting for her _boyfriend_ to show up ten hours later.

She should have told Chuck to book the later flight for two. She should have turned around and went back home. Or, she should have just gone to wait with him. She was sure he could have come up with _something_ interesting to do while they waited. Instead, she felt as though he was being too abrupt and she got angry and… well, Blair Waldorf waited for no one. She might not have gone, but she'd already made a friend who would make the flight less boring.

She should never have gotten on the helicopter.

Fortunately, she'd won the coin toss so she got to sit in the jump seat. She didn't know what to make of this person who wasn't gentlemanly enough to just let her sit wherever the hell she wanted to sit, but he was making the journey less boring anyway.

It was keeping her mind off the mess that had suddenly become this trip. She was supposed to be here with Chuck. He was supposed to be next to her. They would be exchanging some witty banter about the rest of the marketing team. He would have made short work of _this_ 'suit'—Ben—especially when he realized that the guy was clearly checking her out. He'd say something about not being able to blame the guy before deliberately making out with her in front of him, or something like that.

Actually, no he wouldn't have. Because Chuck Bass had become a lot of things this past week: romantic and… somewhat… boring.

_God_, she thought. She hadn't said anything to Serena, but during her whole "he's been a perfect gentleman this past week" speech, she couldn't help but think that she wanted _her_ Chuck back. Not the sleazy, womanizing Chuck—but the one who made snide innuendos at every turn. The one who wanted to make things as fast and fun as possible, not take things _"slow"_. The one who got her blood boiling and dared to anger her over little things. Not the one who tried to please her and came up with ideas for trips to Tuscany.

Not that a week in Tuscany wasn't an amazing idea… but… there was just something too different about Chuck lately, and she wasn't sure she liked it.

And constantly comparing this _new_ Chuck to Nate in her mind was definitely not doing her any good either.

But him blowing her off like this… that really _was_ something Nate would do… when he wasn't interested in her anymore but didn't want to hurt her by saying the actual words… or when his father made him continue seeing her even though he didn't want to.

_Had_ Chuck lost interest? She was startled at how much the thought felt like a sucker punch to the stomach. Only a week ago he was talking about never giving up on a true love and never giving up on her. He'd been looking right at her while he said it. He hadn't said the words in the following week, but she'd been left with the distinct impression that he _loved_ her. Chuck Bass _loved_ her? Yes, it was a crazy notion, and she still wasn't sure how she felt about it. She still didn't understand everything she felt for him… and that scared her a little. She hated being confused—she needed to be in control at all times, especially in control of her feelings.

But somehow when he was right next to her, she forgot all about being in control. She just wanted _him_… and he'd just blown her off.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ben asked, trying to be charming and witty.

It wasn't working.

"My thoughts are definitely worth more than a penny," Blair said smartly, smirking with a hint of a smile.

"How about you tell me now, and I'll buy you a drink when we arrive?" he asked, daring to ask the boss' son's _friend_ for a date. He probably shouldn't overstep his boundaries like this, but she was beautiful and… almost… delicate? That seemed to be the word to best describe her. She seemed vulnerable, but had a certain strength too… like she could be easily hurt but fight back at the same time. It was an intriguing mix to be sure. He probably wouldn't have seen that in her, except he could tell she was truly disappointed that the younger Bass hadn't shown up. He'd gotten a glimpse of the vulnerability in her before she covered it up and made a wisecrack about distance making the heart grow fonder.

Blair barely heard what he said. Her thoughts were too jumbled over the idea that Chuck may have lost interest, may have decided he didn't want to be with her after all. Why else would he have done this? Would he even show up in Tuscany? Would she arrive to a text message or voicemail that he wasn't going to be able to make it after all?

She wouldn't allow herself to suffer that humiliation.

"Sorry," Blair said distractedly as she searched for and found her phone inside the little red cylinder tote bag she carried. She peered out the window, "Are we still over land? I think I'm just going to tell him to forget about his flight. I'll text him and then call my father and catch a short flight to Lyon, or maybe he'll have a limo waiting. It's only 300 miles, right?"

Ben let out a breath of air dejectedly; then he peered out the window. His brow wrinkled in confusion. "Well, yeah, we're definitely still over land… but… that doesn't make sense…" He wasn't normally an international traveler, but he was sure they'd been up in the sky long enough to be over the water by now.

"Whatever," Blair shrugged. "At least I can still get a signal right now." She finished removing her phone and started typing out a message to Chuck. She wasn't going to let him do this to her. She didn't want to spend the week with him. Everything was already ruined.

Or at least, she tried to type the message to Chuck.

Someone snatched the phone out of her hand. She looked up, completely startled.

"What the—," she started, but froze when she saw one of the marketing team members had risen from his seat. He was one of the ones Chuck would have made fun of. He looked horribly uncomfortable in a suit, his hair was slicked back in a very unflattering manner, and he didn't appear at all like someone Bart Bass would use to pitch a deal. She assumed he must have considerable brain activity going on if he managed to get a position with Bass while looking like _that_.

"Vince," Ben said, confusion filling his voice. "What are you—," he didn't finish that sentence when he saw the gun the guy pulled out.

Vince held up his hands to the side, like he was shrugging. "She went for her phone." He looked at Blair whose mouth had dropped open and all thoughts had completely left her as she stared from the big lethal metal to her cell phone in his hand.

"Everyone, just sit down and shut up," Vince said, looking around to the rest of the people. There were about ten other people on the jet. "I'm in the middle of a very important business transaction and I don't want anyone thinking they can mess it up." He glanced around, peering dangerously, training the gun on each in turn. All the guys nodded to let him know they wouldn't try anything stupid.

"What do you think you're doing?" Blair finally managed to ask.

Then she shut up when the guy turned and trained the gun on her.

"I believe I said to _shut up_!" Vince said with an edge of menace and a smirk.

Blair closed her mouth. She'd never in her life even _seen_ a gun, let alone had one pointing at her. She didn't like the way it made her feel. She waited for him to finally move it away.

Vince finally did, and he flopped down next to her in the empty seat. She flinched and sat up straight. At least the gun wasn't pointed at her anymore.

"Ben," Vince said, nodding at her other neighbor. "Move across the aisle please."

Ben wanted to argue with him. Vince was new to the team, but they'd hit things off almost immediately. He didn't understand why the guy was doing this. And he didn't understand why the guy had decided to sit next to Blair.

But Ben also knew better than to argue with a man holding a gun, so he moved.

"That's better," Vince said. "By the way, one of my partners has already commandeered the jet. The former pilot may be joining us shortly… whenever he wakes up—if he does."

If possible, Blair sat up even straighter. Everything inside of her was about to explode, panic flying through her. Everything around her had officially gone out of control and she didn't know how to deal with it. There wasn't a certified pilot flying the jet. There was no way to burst in on him every now and again to make sure he was alive and awake. There was a man on the plane with a gun who had just pointed it in her face. He'd also taken her cell phone and he'd sent away the only friend she had on board.

"Let's make no mistake," the man with the gun said as he relaxed into his seat. "This is a hijacking. This girl is my target, and as soon as my money gets wired to my untraceable private off-shore account, my pilot will land this jet. We will depart, and you will be just fine. All you have to do is sit back, shut up, and wait it out. No playing hero, no disobeying, and everything will be just fine! Comprende?" he looked around.

Everyone nodded.

"Now, my dear," Vince said as he turned his attention back to Blair. "I'd say it's about time to call your father, isn't it?"

_Yep_, Blair thought.

She should have never gotten on the helicopter.

* * *

"I don't understand how this could have happened!" Eleanor exclaimed, reeling from the news that Bart had just delivered.

In the time it took Eleanor to arrive, Bart had finished his dinner and the table was being cleared. The family had adjourned to the sitting area, but things were not nearing any semblance of calm.

And Eleanor Waldorf arriving to devastating news was not going to make the atmosphere any different.

"I suspect Charles was the original target," Bart explained before looking over at his son.

Chuck was seriously trying to get it together. He wasn't one to freak out, but he was… he was _worried_ about Blair. And his father saying that they'd gotten the wrong person by accident wasn't making him feel any better.

"Why do they think she's your daughter?" Serena asked. She'd finally managed to calm down enough to ask. She was leaning against Lily, who had her arms wrapped firmly around her.

Bart started to shake his head; he didn't really know the answer to that himself.

"Isn't it obvious?" Eleanor exclaimed, pausing. She'd been pacing around the room. "The whole media circus surrounding your wedding?" She looked from Lily to Bart. "That, that, that _rag_, the New York Post, just one of the many publications announcing the nuptials. How many of them also mentioned your children?"

Bart nodded curtly. "I know they had photos of Lily, but I made sure they didn't publish any of the kids." He'd been pretty sure to point out that he wanted no pictures of Charles, Serena, or Eric circulated. He wasn't a complete idiot.

"Which is probably why they think she's yours!" Eleanor huffed. "All the rags had to say was that you have two sons and a daughter. They probably found out Charles was going to be on that flight, maybe even found out what _he_ looked like, and when he didn't show up, they just assumed the _daughter_ took his place. And to make things worse, she _looks_ like him!" Eleanor pointed a finger disdainfully at Chuck.

"Eleanor, we will do everything to ensure her safety," Bart explained somberly. He also had a few employees on that jet he had to see to as well. But, Eleanor had started pacing around the room again, her agitation growing.

Eleanor managed to nod. "Of course you will," she said, as if there was no question about it. This was all _their_ fault. The Bass'. If not for them, her little girl would be home right now… or on a regular flight to Lyon. She would be meeting with her father in a matter of hours to spend the summer blissfully unaware of all the trauma that could have come about had things been different.

"But…" Serena started, thinking of something. She couldn't help her train of thought. It probably had something to do with the fact that _she_ was the new Bass daughter, and even if she wasn't on the plane, these people seemed to think that it _was_ her. "What happens when they find out who she is?"

"I don't know," Bart said truthfully.

Serena started having all sorts of crazy thoughts going through her head. What if they found out Blair wasn't a Bass? What if they found out and thought Bart was jerking them around? What if they thought Bart wasn't going to meet any ransom demands?

"You can't tell them," Serena finally said. She looked at Bart, pleading with him.

Bart didn't see why it mattered if they knew or not. He was still going to have to work with Eleanor to get Blair back. She was the first positive influence on Chuck, and Chuck was just as adamant as Serena and Eleanor that Bart do anything and everything to get the girl back. He wasn't going to _not_ meet the demands. This girl meant too much to his family to just ignore.

"She's right," Lily interjected. "Bart, honey, these people are going to be nervous anyway. They are going to want to be in complete control of the situation. If they find out some of that control is gone, who knows what they'll do to her?"

Chuck needed a drink. This was too far outside his realm of existence. He couldn't think about the "what ifs". He was going to make himself sick. He was making himself sick anyway. Anything could happen to Blair. This was all his fault. He'd done this to her. How could he have known this would happen? At least he wasn't getting news that the plane had crashed. He really wouldn't have been able to function then.

What the hell was this feeling?

_Guilt_. It was guilt. He was feeling guilty. Since when did he grow a conscious? Since when did he regret his actions? Since when did he take _responsibility_ for his actions? He should be blaming this all on her. Why did she have to keep their plans and go? Why did she accept his apology at the wedding? Why had she decided to give him another chance? Why did he have to love her in the first place? Why did she have to sleep with him at all? Why did any of this have to happen?

"Oh my God," Eleanor said, her breath hitching on a sob. She paused in her pacing and wrapped her arms around her waist. "She's got to be so scared."

"She's going to feel completely out of control," Serena said.

"That too," Eleanor nodded, trying to hold herself together.

"But that's what's going to make this situation even worse," Serena said softly, her eyes brimming with fresh tears.

Everyone looked at her.

"She has to be in control," Serena said, her voice still hoarse.

"She _has_ to be. She'll do anything to try to gain some control…" she trailed off, her eyes finally meeting Chuck's. His eyes were just as red-rimmed as hers, but instead of from tears, they were like that from worry and from his rubbing them constantly.

"Even if it's something stupid…"

* * *

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. And for coming up with the ransom, lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

"D-daddy?" Blair said loudly, hoping her voice was clear through the speaker phone.

She was angry with herself for letting her vulnerability show through, but when she wasn't off putting her brave face on to the world and maintaining absolute control, she was spending her time being 'daddy's little girl'. If there was anyone in the world she wanted to talk to right now—or have their arms wrapped around her, comforting her—it was her father.

"Don't worry, Serena," the deep male voice came through the phone, "we'll settle this and you'll be fine."

"Wha—?" Blair started to say, eyes going wide with confusion. Why was he calling her Serena? And who was on the phone? That voice definitely wasn't her father's.

"_Serena_, just stay calm. Let me handle this and you'll be _fine_," the voice continued.

Blair's mind went wild. It was bad enough she could hardly process what was happening on the plane, and to make matters worse, someone was speaking to her and calling her Serena. She just wanted her father!

Or… if that wasn't a possibility…

"Can I talk to my mother?" Blair finally managed to ask. She needed time to figure things out and if it wasn't her father on the phone, maybe her mother just couldn't reach him in France on such short notice and was having another male fill in.

She didn't have a chance to find out because before the man could say anything else, Vince grabbed the phone and clicked the speaker off, holding the phone up to speak into it.

"That's enough," he spoke menacingly, his distorted voice box thing—whatever you called it, because Blair sure didn't know—was firmly in place, making his voice impossible to recognize over the phone.

Blair could only sit and listen and try to figure out what was going on while Vince continued. Of course, she couldn't hear the voice on the other end now.

"What do you want?" Bart asked gruffly.

He was hoping Blair was smart enough to get his subliminal message that these people thought she was Serena if she didn't already know. Chuck was convinced Blair would be able to figure it out. Bart still thought he should just tell the man the truth: that they had Blair Waldorf, _not_ Serena, and that they would still pay the ransom for her. But Serena and Lily were convinced it was a bad idea.

"Oh, how's… ten million?" Vince said, a coy smile coming over his face. "That sounds about right to me."

Bart winced, but inclined his head even though the man couldn't see him. "Where and when?" He wasn't one to talk to excess.

"I'll tell you where to transfer it, all in good time. For now, let's cut this short, shall we?" Vince went on. "In case you are having this traced."

"No, I have not contacted the authorities," Bart stated firmly. "I just want to get this over with."

"I'll be in touch," Vince said before ending the call.

He had everything set on a timer. The pilot had taken care of cloaking the jet's signal, giving the plane a different call sign for traveling through United States airways. He didn't need the plane to be found just because of a stupid slip in a lengthy phone call pinpointing their exact coordinates.

Blair had listened to Vince's end with wide eyes. Ten million dollars? Well, he definitely wasn't playing around. Her family was definitely worth millions… she just would have expected a lower number.

So, why had the person called her 'Serena'? Unless they thought she was Serena… but he should have recognized her voice. Wait a minute… if he knew that the hijacker was listening in, the only reason why he would call her 'Serena' is if the hijacker thought she was Serena… which meant…

That was Bart Bass on the phone. Now she recognized the voice. She didn't speak to Bart on a regular basis, so it was no wonder it took her a minute to understand. She finally realized what should have been evident. She was on the _Bass_ plane. A _Bass_ was supposed to be on here…which meant, that the only person not on the marketing team _had _to be a Bass in these people's heads.

"Scared?" the dark haired, squirrely eyed captor said with a smirk.

Blair didn't respond. She wasn't scared… much. But she wasn't going to let this man know that. She had to have some control.

"It's a shame really," Vince said, shaking his head. "And quite amusing. I was expecting your brother, but you'll do just as well." His eyes glowed, piercing.

She looked away. She couldn't look at the man right now, her equilibrium was too scrambled. She was too scared of everything… and when the man referred to her brother, she realized something about Chuck that was worrying her even more.

Then she nearly crawled out of her skin when he actually touched the side of her face to turn her head back to face him. She smacked his hand away. "Don't touch me!"

"Feisty, huh?" he laughed, grabbing her arm and dragging her to her feet. "Yeah, you'll definitely do just as well."

A thought was starting to form in her head and with it came a plan. It was only something little, but it was something she needed to do for her own peace of mind. She struggled with him, not really caring if she was supposed to be miss-little-obedient-nice-girl here.

"Stop it," he said. His other hand grabbed her other arm in a hard grip, shaking her. "I told you, behave and you won't get hurt."

Blair finally let up in her struggling. She had completed phase one of her plan. That was all that mattered.

She nodded and forced herself to say, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Vince grinned at her. "See to it."

He dragged her from the back of the plane and pushed her back into her seat, across from the others who were eyeing the exchange, wondering what they had missed.

None of the other passengers had dared move. The other guys had begun to talk amongst themselves, wondering if they should do something. The pilot was up front, the lone hijacker was in the back with the girl.

Then Ben mentioned something that most of the others hadn't picked up on.

Vince had said that "one of his partners" was piloting the plane. That meant that there was another on board who hadn't been revealed yet. It could be anyone in the group of ten men.

Everyone had looked around, wondering who the mole was, but since everyone had the same reaction, they couldn't tell. None of the men wanted to take any chances. So, they did nothing.

After Vince pushed Blair into her seat, he sat down, his gun still very much visible. "This is the best part. The wait. Can't you feel the tension in the air? Don't worry everyone. This will all be over before you know it."

Blair closed her eyes, feeling the weight of the small, cool item she'd found. It was pressed, hidden, to her side.

In her struggle with the man, she'd managed to get her cell phone back. She hoped he didn't realize it was missing… at least not before she got the chance to use it. She finally felt some control, though it was miniscule. That's all that mattered to her at the moment.

* * *

"How is she?" "Is she okay?" "How much?" "What happens now?"

Bart held up a hand as everyone barraged him with questions as soon as he hung up the phone.

"She sounded fine," he answered the two questions from Serena and Lily first. "They want money. It's not in their best interest to hurt her. She was confused about the name, but if Chuck is right, she'll figure it out."

"Chuck," he said with a nod to his son who had shut down from all facial expression—the only indication that he was not fairing well, "ten million." At the women's gasps, he held up his hand again. "It will be taken care of."

Chuck nodded before settling back into his seat. His spine was still tense, and he couldn't stop playing the entire afternoon over and over again in his mind. How the hell had this happened? Who knew he was supposed to be on that plane? What was happening to Blair? He hadn't meant for any of this to happen.

His life was supposed to be easy and breezy. He didn't get involved, he didn't love, he didn't… do a lot of things he had been doing lately. For the first time in his life he actually made _plans_ for something, and looked what happened. Any number of people could have found out ahead of time that he was leaving on that plane. Hell, even the marketing team would have known he'd be traveling with them.

For the first time, Chuck wished that it _was_ him on that plane. He wished he was with Blair or wished that she hadn't gone at all. Was this what it was like to think of someone else before your self? No wonder he'd been so freaked when his father mentioned it. He realized that wasn't like him… but a lot of things hadn't been "like him" for a while now.

He remembered the night of Blair's birthday party… he'd been trying to get her to forget about Nate and give him a chance. He'd even told Blair the truth about Nate wanting her because of his parent's demands. Then that picture had come out of Nate with some girl. He'd seen the look on her face. She was hurt, upset and… humiliated at her own birthday party in front of everyone. She'd looked at him and, with tear filled eyes, asked him if he was "Satisfied?"

He wasn't. He hadn't been.

Because she was upset. It was the first time he'd ever felt someone else's pain. It was the first time he'd wanted to do anything he could to make that pain go away. He'd gone to her because he had these weird feelings for her. He'd also gone to her because he wanted to comfort her. He wanted to help her. He'd been there for her the night before when she needed him after her breakup. On some level, he realized that she needed him the night of the party too. And he'd been there for her. He'd kept being there for her… even after she hurt him so badly. Sure, they fought and argued and he blackmailed her… but he'd gone to her to try to be there for her during her pregnancy scare.

And she'd thrown that in his face. So, he'd thrown his words in _her_ face when she came to him after he humiliated her. But it didn't make him feel better. He still felt her pain as acutely as he had when Nate was the one to destroy her. Now, it was just him doing it.

He didn't know if that made it better or worse in his mind, but he knew that in the months since the explosion of information that rocked the Upper East Side, destroyed Blair's reputation, and Nate and Chuck's friendship, he'd been lost.

So when Blair called asking for his help, the first real contact since he'd turned her away, he went. He had to be there for her. Of course, it turned out he was there more for Serena than for Blair… but it'd given him the opportunity to realize that maybe there was still a chance with Blair. He really had missed her.

His father had made him remember that "being there" for Blair Waldorf always ended up with him getting hurt. Whether it was her rejecting him or Nate ending their friendship… he always got hurt.

After a summer away, he wouldn't just be a different "man" as his father inferred. He'd also be so in love with Blair Waldorf he wouldn't be able to see straight. And when she inevitably hurt him, he'd be that much more destroyed. He couldn't do it again. He couldn't set himself up for the greatest fall.

It wasn't that he was untrustworthy or that he didn't want to be faithful to Blair.

It was that he didn't trust _her_.

This past week had been amazing… but she hadn't acted like _her_ self around him. He felt like she was holding back… and she hadn't once spoken about her "_feelings"_.

He didn't know how she felt… which was pretty much how everything had been before. He'd basically revealed his feelings to her in front of the most influential people of the Upper East Side in a toast a week ago. But he didn't know how she felt. He knew he could please her in bed. He knew they could exchange witty puns and enjoy each other's company. What he didn't know was how much he really meant to her.

And in the absence of that knowledge… the only thing he could think was that she was just with him to _be_ with someone… he wasn't the one she'd be with if she really had a choice.

Nate was always hanging over his head, no matter how much he tried to make him go away. He wasn't Nate. He'd never be Nate. He was Chuck Bass.

And Chuck Bass was no saint. He was a manipulative womanizer who took what he wanted, when he wanted—consequences be damned!

He just never thought the consequences this time would be feeling this crushing guilt and pain and worry that something would happen to Blair because of him.

"Eleanor," Bart continued, "we have to wait again. I haven't been told where to send the money or how to get her back yet. The only thing I can do right now is get the money together. The person mentioned a transfer. I'm assuming that means bank accounts, so I don't have to get a noticeable amount of cash together, thank God for that." That would tip off the police immediately.

Banks were supposed to be on the look out for such nefarious affairs. It was all very suspicious. Even if Bart Bass spoke until he was blue in the face about how it wasn't the authorities business if he decided to pay off a kidnapper to get a child back, the authorities would claim it _was_ their business. Especially if said kidnapper wanted to use that money for… oh, maybe, terrorist cells or whatnot… and Lord knew, the United States didn't negotiate with terrorists. So, even if it was just a run-of-the-mill kidnapper looking for a big greedy pay day, it was still circumspect. Bart didn't know anything about these kidnappers… and he really didn't want to know.

"So… all we can do is wait?" Eleanor said miserably.

Eleanor was not having an easy time of it. She loved her daughter and was starting to think about all the time she had missed spending with her this past year. All the business trips, all the traveling: Eleanor had missed so much recently… like her own daughter's debut into society and the most important week of a junior's life—when she made her first impression on the college of her choice. She's left Blair alone for both of those things. She trusted Blair to succeed at them on her own.

Now that she really had the chance to step back, she realized she'd completely abandoned Blair—forsaken, if you will—to her own devices while Eleanor had gone off gallivanting, trying to build her company. Eleanor didn't even know what had upset Blair so much a few months back when she'd nearly left to spend the term in France. Maybe Eleanor should have made more of an effort to get Blair to open up to her, but she clearly hadn't wanted to speak of it… so Eleanor had respected her wishes. Was that what a good parent would have done? Of course, Eleanor had never claimed to be that good of a parent.

"Yes," Bart replied.

"Great," Serena sighed sarcastically before turning and walking away.

She needed a breather. She couldn't sit about in the sitting room forever. She had to walk around. She couldn't stop thinking about Blair.

She thought that maybe she should call Nate, let him know what was going on. But… maybe she shouldn't say anything over the phone. He'd told her about his father leaving the country… his conversations might be tapped or something in case his father tried to contact him and that would just tip someone off to Blair being held captive—she really had been watching too many movies if she was getting this paranoid.

So she resolved to call him and just ask him to come over. He agreed. She hung up feeling a little better knowing that he would come. He needed to know what was going on. Blair was just as important to him. They hadn't really talked about Blair this afternoon, and as far as she knew he hadn't spoken to Blair since they all came together to help her out when she finally revealed the truth about Pete. She knew Nate had forgiven Chuck, but she didn't know how things stood with Blair… but she had to believe he still cared even a little.

They'd had such a great time that afternoon, just talking and hanging out like the friends they used to be before a little drunken romp destroyed everything.

She probably should have talked to Blair before talking to him again, but she figured it was harmless… plus, Blair was with Chuck now. She shouldn't get jealous just because Serena was being _friends_ with Nate. And that was all it was ever going to be.

She had never had _those_ feelings for Nate… the feelings she had for Dan. In her head, Nate was just like those other nameless faces that had passed her by—ie. had sex with— in her misspent youth (as if she wasn't still young)… which was as much a betrayal to him and their friendship as it had been a betrayal to Blair. She hoped that the past could just stay in the past. She was done looking for a relationship for now. She wanted to be alone, have a chance to continue getting her life on track as she had done over the past year.

But friends, now those were something she needed and wanted in abundance… and her _best_ friend was currently being held hostage by a madman on a plane in the middle of the friggin sky. She was so worried. She couldn't seem to stand the waiting. Nate would help her with that.

She couldn't stand to sit with Chuck. She didn't know what he would say. She knew he looked worried, but even when serious things were on his mind, he still managed to bring pervy things out of the air. She couldn't deal with his crap right now.

Then she started to feel bad.

According to Blair, Chuck had been different this week. He was treating her with the respect that she deserved. She called him a perfect gentleman. He had to be just as worried as Serena was… and feeling so much worse considering that it was _him_ the people were after… of course even if he had gone, Blair would still have been right there with him… but at least Blair would be more relaxed.

As much as it made her ears bleed, Blair _had_ said that Chuck could relax her. She'd never heard Blair Waldorf make pervy jokes until today and while she didn't know if she liked it or not, it was still good to see Blair letting loose. But now… now Blair was in trouble…

Serena's phone started ringing as she was making her way back down to find Chuck. She didn't really know if it would be possible for them to comfort each other until Nate got there, but she figured she should at least try. Especially since it looked like Chuck really did care about Blair…

Then she saw who was calling her phone and froze.

_Why the hell was Blair calling her?_

* * *

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

Serena raced down the stairs and practically flew into the sitting room.

"Blair's calling me!" she said breathlessly. "What do I do!"

"Answer it!" Chuck said, standing up from his seat across the room.

Everyone else was having basically the same 'standing' reaction, but they were much slower about it. They didn't understand either. This definitely wasn't expected.

"But what if they found her phone and found my number and… and… what if they know she's not me!" Serena said hysterically, shaking her hand.

"And what if it's _her_? Just answer the effing phone!" Chuck said, stalking across the room, about to grab the phone from Serena and answer the thing himself. He hadn't allowed time for his father or Eleanor to say anything else, so he didn't know if they agreed… honestly, he didn't care.

Serena nervously opened the phone just as Chuck arrived next to her. She shakily put it up to her ear.

"Hel-hello?" she said.

"Serena," came Blair's whispered hiss.

"Oh my God, Blair," Serena said, "What's going on? Why are you calling?" Her eyes were wide as she made contact with Chuck's.

Blair clamped her eyes shut, relieved to hear her best friend's voice. She knew she should probably be texting Serena, not calling her, but she… she couldn't resist. She was stuck on a plane, being held hostage, with no one that she knew. She couldn't even talk to someone she knew—she was stuck talking to Bart Bass. How relaxing was that? She just needed to hear a friendly, loving voice.

She needed to make this quick. Vince had let her use the restroom which is the only way she'd been able to use the phone without him knowing.

"I don't have much time, I stole my phone back, he let me go to the bathroom," Blair whispered.

"Blair! You shouldn't have done that," Serena said. "He's going to notice that it's missing sooner or later! And who is _he_? Do you know anything about these people?"

"Shh!" Blair hissed. "I don't know anything, okay? That's not why I called."

"Then why are you calling?" Serena asked, bewildered. She was shaking a little after learning that Blair was calling when she wasn't supposed to be. She was surprised when she felt a hand come up on her shoulder… it was Chuck. She managed a nod, but focused back on the conversation.

"These… these people thought they were going to get Chuck," Blair whispered. "I'm sure Bart already figured that out, but Chuck is on a plane to Italy right now and he probably has no idea what's going on because you can't get cell phone reception in the middle of the Atlantic, and I don't know how many people are involved in this! There are at least three people on this plane! What if there are more and they decide to still go after Chuck in Tuscany? Just tell Bart to make sure he's okay, _ok_?"

As much as she had wanted to call him earlier and tell him to forget about the later flight, he would have already been on it by the time this stuff started. And when the man mentioned earlier that he had expected her "brother", she started freaking out even more inside. She didn't want anything to happen to Chuck, as angry as she was that he'd just blown her off. She couldn't do anything about the fact that she was imprisoned on this plane, but she _could_ find a way to calm her fears as far as Chuck was concerned.

Serena closed her eyes tight as she spoke into the phone, "He's fine, Blair," she whispered. She finally opened her eyes and made eye contact with Chuck again. "He's fine…"

Chuck drew in a deep shaky breath as he realized exactly why Blair was calling. She wanted to make sure _he_ was okay. She was in the middle of one of the most traumatic experiences of her life… and she was thinking about _his_ safety. His stomach clenched. His fingers involuntarily dug into Serena's shoulder.

Serena shrugged his hand away as Blair responded, "Are you sure? So, Bart already has people waiting at the airport there so that he's okay when he arrives?"

"Blair…" Serena whispered, unable to believe that this was why Blair had called. "He's here… in New York. He didn't go."

Chuck grabbed her arm again, shaking his head.

Serena stared at him, trying to read the look on his face. If she knew Chuck better, she would understand that Chuck was trying to tell her to come up with some sort of excuse, anything to explain away the fact that he wasn't on a plane to Italy.

But she didn't know Chuck better.

"He…" Blair began, her voice hitched in her throat before she finished the sentence, "didn't…"

"No, Blair," Serena said. "He's right next to me. He's fine. Now, talk to me, what's happening on the plane? Do you have any idea where you are?" She had noticed Bart motioning for her and realized that she needed to take the opportunity to find out anything she could. Eleanor was motioning at her too. She started feeling weird because Blair's mother probably would love to hear her voice too. "Your mother's here…"

Blair struggled to get her mind back on track. The fact that Chuck hadn't gotten on that plane said more to her than anything else could… and for some reason she could barely breathe. "I'm… um… I'm pretty sure we're still over the US… well, at least there's land under us, not ocean." She ignored the last part about her mother. There was no time to talk to Eleanor, even if she would dearly love to.

Then she flinched at a knock on the bathroom door.

"Time's up!" came a loud voice through the door.

"Just a minute!" she called out.

"Blair, hang up the phone now!" Serena insisted when she heard the loud exchange in the background.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Blair whispered even lower than before.

"Just that you're supposed to be me," Serena said quickly. "Hang up the phone, Blair!"

"What's happening?" Chuck asked, confused as to why Serena kept telling Blair to hang up.

"I already figured that out," Blair said. "Ok, um, and the other things… there's someone else flying the plane, the guy has a gun, he seems to be on some sort of schedule because he keeps checking his watch… um… his name's Vince—the one talking to me anyway."

"Ok, now will you please hang up?" Serena insisted. She should probably just hang up her end which would make Blair _have_ to hang up… but she would feel heartless if she hung up on her best friend in the middle of this.

Blair sucked in another deep breath when the knocking resumed before the handle started jiggling.

"I thought I told you not to lock this door!" Vince yelled.

"I'm sorry! I'm almost finished! Just a second!" Blair said, trying to placate. She had to lock the door. She wasn't going to let this guy walk in on her, even if she wasn't on a cell phone.

"What did I say about behaving?" Vince said as he struggled with the door knob again.

"BLAIR!" Serena said, nearly jumping up and down in frustration.

Blair tried to think if there was anything else she could tell Serena… then she remembered when the guy touched her face earlier…

"The next time he calls Bart, make sure he tells him not to touch me, okay?" Blair said. "Gotta go now, love you, bye!"

If possible, Serena's face went even whiter as she heard a loud sound in the background right before Blair hung up the phone.

"Blair?" Serena asked, knowing that Blair had already hung up, but after that sound, she couldn't do anything but freeze to the spot and whisper her name.

"Serena?" Chuck asked, "What? What did she say?"

Serena wasn't responding, and then the phone slipped out of her hand while she was still frozen in shock.

Chuck put an arm around Serena's shoulders and guided her over to the couch. He forced her to sit down. Then _he_ froze when she actually leaned into his side. He didn't do the whole comforting thing.

But he needed to know what had just happened. And then Serena started shaking again. "Serena, talk, what's going on?"

It was at this point that Lily came over and sat on the other side of Serena, taking hold of her hands. "Its okay honey, everything's going to be okay. Blair is going to be fine."

Serena still didn't respond.

"What's happening on the plane?" Bart asked. "Did she say anything?"

Serena still couldn't speak. She didn't even realize that she was leaning against her step brother—who would otherwise cause her to vomit. She actually burrowed deeper against his side, hiding her face in his multi-colored vest because she didn't want to say anything she'd just heard out loud… because that would make it real.

"Serena, I know this is difficult, but if you know anything that could help Blair, you have to tell us," Eleanor said, the tension making her shoulders tight. She had wanted to grab that phone from Serena so badly, but she couldn't ignore the fact that Blair had the opportunity to call anyone and she had chosen Serena. If Serena was the person Blair needed to speak to at the moment, Eleanor would let her.

Serena heard what Eleanor was saying. It was breaking through, and she was remembering how to breathe. She clenched a bit of Chuck's yellow dress shirt in her fingers as she whispered some of the things Blair said.

"Three people on the plane… that she knows of… one is flying the plane," Serena began. "She said that the guy who... who…," Serena couldn't figure out how to explain that person, so she just continued, "his name is Vince."

Bart nodded. "I know who he is," he said. "That's how he knew Chuck was supposed to be there. He's on the team." He was going to have to pull a personnel file on the guy… but only to have information together if the exchange went south, which he really was hoping wouldn't happen. If Blair would just sit back and go to sleep for the rest of this exchange, everything would be fine. But Serena's earlier prediction that she would do something stupid had just become a reality.

"She said they're still over land," Serena remembered. "She didn't know if it was the US or not."

"Well, that's new," Bart said, "and much more convenient." At least the exchange would happen close to home instead of having to go to Europe to find her, of course Eleanor had insisted Harold was prepared to get her over there.

"She said… she said…" Serena closed her eyes and whispered the rest, "that they have guns." She shuddered.

"Of course they do," Bart insisted quickly, knowing the ladies might start to have palpitations over that. He attempted to smooth things over fast. "How else does one take over a plane?"

Serena shuddered again.

"Relax, Serena," Lily said, stroking her daughter's shoulder. "We knew that they would have something like that."

"I heard it," Serena whispered.

Chuck tensed. "Heard what?" He'd been trying to listen to the whole conversation, already tense but trying not to panic too much. He knew as well as everyone else that the hijackers were going to have to have some sort of weapon to take over the plane.

"A gunshot!" Serena cried out. "Okay?" She pushed away from Chuck, angrily, upset that she'd been forced to say it out loud. "Right before she hung up, the guy was banging on the bathroom door and yelling at her and I could hear him and she said goodbye and then I heard it! But she'd already hung up! I don't know what happened!"

"Oh my God," Eleanor said, sinking down into her seat again, hand over her heart, trying to breathe.

Chuck grabbed a hold of Serena, and shook her, "Snap out of it! She's fine. You didn't hear a gunshot. Maybe she dropped the phone! How do _you_ know what a gunshot sounds like, Serena? You don't! Chill, and stop freaking everyone out in the process." He knew he was being too harsh to her, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to think that what she was saying was true. He didn't think that the hijacker would kill Blair, not if he wanted his money… but shooting someone and killing them were two entirely different things.

His shaking her was only making Serena even more upset and she started crying hysterically. "Yes it was, it was! Oh my God, what if he shot Blair!" She started pushing at Chuck, hitting his chest when he wouldn't stop shaking her. "Oh my God, Oh my God!"

Bart actually walked across to the pair and pulled them apart, motioning for Lily to hold the hysterical Serena as he kept a firm grip on Chuck.

"The two of you need to stop this now," Bart said.

Chuck, who was too surprised that his father had actually involved himself in the exchange, looked up at him, stupefied.

"Beating each other up is not helping Blair," Bart said. He glared at his son who pulled away and stood up, starting to pace around the room.

Chuck couldn't breathe.

He would give anything at that moment to have Blair right next to him. She could kick him, stab his foot with a heel, slap him, pull his hair, do anything she wanted as long as she was standing in front of him safe and sound. As much as he tried to run away from his feelings, he loved Blair… and as much as he had probably screwed things up, he didn't want to lose her. He couldn't lose her. Because it would hurt too much. He hadn't thought earlier. That was always his problem. He didn't think before he did. Act first, ask questions later. That described him to a 'T'.

Why did he think that blowing Blair off would be the answer? Why did he think that returning to his old ways would be the answer? He should have just _asked_ Blair what she felt for him. Then he would know the truth without beating around the bush. But… he didn't want to face the truth because he was…_scared_. Chuck Bass was _scared_.

He paused to rub his eyes again before continuing his pacing.

He was scared that she didn't return his feelings. It was the scariest thing he'd ever felt, not knowing. People said that love was special and important and sometimes did crazy things to you. He couldn't understand how people could give in to this feeling. It took so much… _faith_. And he was too scared to give in completely to it. He admitted that to himself, though he'd never be able to admit it to anyone else.

Though maybe he could admit it to her… now. Now that he knew she really did care….

She called because she wanted to make sure he was okay.

If that didn't show how much she cared about him, he didn't know what did… and now she knew that he hadn't gotten on that later plane. She knew that he hadn't meant to follow her. He didn't have to hear her voice to know what she was thinking this time. He'd abandoned her… let her down… for what?

If Chuck Bass cried, he would be doing so right now.

He'd really made a mess of things.

Maybe there was still time to fix this.

Blair would be fine. She would be home very soon. His father would pay the ransom and they'd get Blair back. He would hold her and tell her that he loved her and tell her that he was just scared and just… he'd tell her everything.

There was still time to fix everything… yes. Still time.

Chuck was finally managing to breathe again, finding faith that Blair would be okay and that he could make it right.

Then the doorbell to the suite rang.

Chuck froze and looked up.

He had to get to that door before anyone else did.

Serena pulled away from her mother, "I'll get it!" She jumped up and started racing to the door.

"Serena, that's what the staff is for!" Lily called, confused as to why her daughter was bothering to answer the door when she was clearly this upset.

Chuck blanched and tried to catch up with Serena, "I'll get it, sis, go back on the couch and cry."

"It's Nate, I called him," she said, pulling away from his hand and turning down the hall, arriving just before a staff member. She nodded to the help, who turned and left.

"Serena…" Chuck said, though he already knew it was too late. He couldn't tell her he'd get the door now, she was already right in front of it.

"Nate, thank God you're…." Serena started, but she trailed off as the door opened to reveal someone that definitely wasn't Nate Archibald.

"I'm sorry," Serena shook her head, "who are you?" And why was she here _now_?

"I'm Amelia…" the blonde said, confused by the greeting. "I'm here to see Chuck…I was supposed to meet him in his suite, but he said something about meeting him here if he wasn't down there…?"

Serena stared at the woman in disbelief for half a minute before she finally turned to look at Chuck.

"You didn't."

* * *

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

"You didn't."

It was a statement, not a question.

Chuck had a resigned look on his face. He knew this was bad, really bad. And it was only going to get worse... even if nothing had _really_ happened… besides him standing Blair up. He had only been able to have a mild flirtation with the decorator before she had to scamper off to rejoin Lily to finish the tour of the suite… but not before he invited her to join him that evening. _Shit, shit, and double shit!_

"Serena, go back in the living room, I'll handle this," he said quickly.

Serena ignored his words and turned back to the woman in the doorway, "And, pray tell, why are you _meeting_ Chuck?"

The woman looked around, a little flustered, "maybe I should come back another time?"

"Serena, I really think you should just go into the living room," Chuck said, finally striding over and taking hold of the door, pulling it away from Serena's grasp. He took a hold of Serena's arm and motioned her backward.

Serena yanked her arm away, glaring at him. "How _could_ you?"

"Serena, calm down, it's not what you think," Chuck managed to say. It wasn't a full out lie. He _had_ invited her over for… a little more than a game of Parcheesi. But he wasn't going to go through with it… well, if you'd asked him before the first phone call he would have probably said the opposite… but now, now he didn't want to touch this girl at all.

"Um, clearly I should go," Amelia muttered, not following the exchange but she was decidedly uncomfortable.

"Yes, yes, you should go," Serena said, nearly spitting the words out in her anger. "You should go and never bring your skinny skanky ass around here again!"

"Excuse me?" Amelia said, flushed, and more than a little ticked at the harsh words she hadn't expected.

"You heard me! Get! Scram! Now! Now! Now!" Serena was at the end of her rope and had finally snapped. Unfortunately, this woman was in the wrong place at the wrong time… in more ways than one.

Amelia backed up as Serena advanced on her, shouting each "Now!" She didn't understand why this girl looked like she was about to go all Jet Li on her, but she wasn't sticking around to find out.

Serena watched, barely concealing her anger, as the girl practically ran to the elevator and pressed the button.

Serena turned around and marched right up into Chuck's face.

"Serena…" Chuck started to explain. He would have been amused by Serena's display if he wasn't so worried about the current Blair situation.

And if he weren't trying to come up with an excuse so badly, he would have seen her next action coming.

She slapped him.

Chuck wasn't expecting it. He flinched at the pain and the loud sound that echoed after she made contact. His head tilted to the side before he looked back at her, his eyes flashing.

Serena was pissed. And his staring at her after that slap enraged her even more for some reason.

So she slapped him again.

This time he backed up afterward and tried to get his hands up when she kept advancing at him. She didn't get a chance to slap him a third time, but it wasn't from lack of trying.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on?" Nate exclaimed.

He'd just gotten off the elevator, greeted by a clearly upset female who was impatient for him to get off so she could get on. He'd wondered down to the Bass suite only to find the door wide open with Serena going wild on Chuck.

Serena had given up trying to slap Chuck and was now just trying to hit him and kick him wherever she could find an opening. She didn't even stop when Nate started talking.

Chuck didn't want to hit Serena, but he was getting tired of her trying to beat the crap out of him. He kept putting his hands up, trying to grab her hands to make her stop. He wasn't having much luck.

"Stop it, Serena," Nate said, trying to pull her away.

She just shrugged him off and tried to go for Chuck again, all thoughts gone from her mind but her single minded urge to beat the shit out of him.

Nate wrapped his arms around her waist and clamped tight, pulling her back. "What the hell, Serena!"

"You sonofabitch!" Serena shrieked at Chuck. She struggled against Nate. "Let me go!"

"Not until you calm down," Nate said firmly. He looked up at Chuck who was holding his nose, wincing. Apparently Serena had managed to get a jab in before Nate pulled her back. "What's going on?"

"What's going on? What's going on!" Serena kicked her feet out toward Chuck while clawing at Nate's arms.

"I'll tell you what's going on!" Serena hissed. "He's an asshole! A stupid, self absorbed, worthless, miserable excuse for a human being!"

"He's not that bad," Nate said soothingly.

"Oh really, then why don't you ask _him_ why it's a good thing you showed up when you did?" Serena asked, still trying to get Nate to let go of her.

Nate rolled his eyes but looked at Chuck, raising an eyebrow.

Chuck opened his mouth to try to explain, but the words just weren't coming.

"Come on, say it," Serena snapped, eyes flashing as they met Chuck's guilty ones. "_Say_ it!"

He said nothing.

Serena saw red.

"I want to hear you _say it_! I want to hear you say that you sent your girlfriend off _alone_ to another _country_ so you could indulge in a fucking _booty call_!"

"I want to hear you say that it's _your_ fault she's on a fucking hijacked plane _alone_, scared out of her mind because someone was after _you_!

"I want to hear you say that you don't know if she's hurt or even _alive_ after I heard a gun—because yes, it was a _gun_—going off during that last phone call!

"Please, _please_ explain why—why," her voice broke, "why the last thing she said to me before she said goodbye was to make sure your father told that guy not to _touch_ her."

"Oh, and-and please, _please_, tell me why she put her life at risk to make sure _you _were okay? Because _you_ are a worthless piece of shit who doesn't deserve her! You never have and you never _will_!"

Silence descended over the three.

Serena now had tears streaming down her face, her body racked with quiet sobs as she leaned against Nate, completely broken, scared that she was never going to see or hear from her best friend again.

Chuck finally broke the silence, "She said that?" Strange that out of the entire angry ranting, the only thing that stuck in his head was the part where Blair had told Serena to tell his father to make sure the guy didn't touch her.

He had already been saying the rest to himself in his head, over and over again. Hearing it out loud was making him feel hollow inside… and he couldn't look at Nate. Not yet anyway.

He wished he could block out Serena's words, but he couldn't. He could only look away and listen, and hear everything that made him want to go back to the beginning of the day and start over again.

And he really wanted Serena to tell him that he was just hearing things now. He really wanted her to tell him that she had just made it up to make his insides break apart further. He really needed her to deny it… but she didn't.

"Yes," Serena said, her knees going week. "Yes, yes, yes," she whimpered as everything was finally revealed and she could no longer pretend that it wasn't real. She shook her head in denial even though her words were affirmative.

Of all the things Chuck had ever felt in his life, powerless was never one of them. And right now, as he closed his hands and eyes tight, his teeth clenching together as he turned his head to the side again, he was feeling it… powerless.

_I'm Chuck Bass._

Those three words seemed to be mocking him, running through his mind, echoing like a nightmare. He got anything he wanted, did whatever he wanted, went wherever he wanted. But in this, his name was worthless. His name wasn't going to protect Blair on that plane, and neither was he. Blair was at the mercy of these people. They could do anything they wanted to her as long as she was still alive when the exchange happened.

He could feel his perfectly manicured nails digging into the skin of his palms, but he couldn't stop. The pain he was feeling there was in no way alleviating the pain in his chest that felt like everything was tearing apart.

"Did… did she say if he…," Chuck broke off and ran his thumb and middle finger over his eyebrows before clenching them together at the bridge of his nose. He managed to finish his question through clenched teeth though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, "did he touch her already?"

"She didn't say," Serena said weakly. She didn't think so, but she really didn't know… and the ramifications of the gunshot was more important in her head right now. What if the guy caught Blair with the cell phone? What if he shot her? What if Blair was bleeding and dying right now and Serena didn't know? _Oh God_.

Nate stumbled when Serena's legs went completely out under her. "Help me with her, Chuck."

Chuck went over to help, barely realizing what he was doing, just doing as Nate said because it seemed better than standing around digging his nails into his flesh.

Serena was too emotionally spent to care that the guy she was attacking seconds ago was now helping her walk back into the living room.

Nate was trying to process everything he'd just heard pour out of Serena's mouth… and while he understood that Serena seemed to be blaming everything on Chuck… the more important part of the entire mess was the part about Blair.

"Blair's plane was hijacked?" he asked Chuck over Serena's head.

Chuck was looking down, trying to concentrate on helping Serena while blocking out the thought of some guy putting his hands on Blair. He heard what Nate said, but only managed a tight nod. Explaining everything to Nate was the last thing on his mind.

"Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to go with her?" Nate asked, perplexed.

Chuck just gave him a tight lipped nod, still not looking at him. He couldn't bear to look at his best friend. Nate may not have figured everything out yet, but when he did… Chuck couldn't deal with Nate right now. He was barely moving forward, his head was pounding, his heart was hurting, and his world was crashing down around him. There was no way he was going to be able to explain anything to Nate.

So he kept on forward, moving slowly, helping Serena even though she had just verbally destroyed him. He did this because he didn't know what else to do. He was running on autopilot. He just needed Blair.

"What happened?" Lily said, standing quickly when they entered the room and going to Serena.

Serena immediately went into her mother's arms, finally regaining some inner balance. She just wanted to go to sleep and wake up and find out that this was all some horrible nightmare. She didn't answer her mother, and neither did the other two boys. They all chose to just ignore the question and Lily didn't seem to need an explanation now that Serena was in her arms.

Nate looked around at the people gathered in the room. He was a completely thrown and confused.

Chuck looked like hell. Serena looked even worse. Eleanor was sitting straighter than his mother after her clothing was freshly starched, staring straight forward making the wall seem interesting. Lily looked worried, though hardly a hair was out of place. And Bart was sitting with his phone next to him, looking almost bored as he pursued a newspaper.

Nate was still reeling inside at the news. He was slowly working through each piece of information that Serena had tossed out. She had said it so disjointedly and confusingly—not to mention that she was struggling with him while he was trying to hold on to her the entire time—that it was almost impossible to follow.

But one thing did stand out.

The part at the beginning—the easiest part to remember.

The part where Serena said that Chuck had stood Blair up for some other chick. Now that he thought about it, that girl who was leaving when he got on the elevator was probably the girl in question.

Nate was going to pull Chuck to the side to get brought up to date on all the particulars of the current situation…

And as horrible as Chuck looked right now, he had some definite explaining to do.

"Chuck," Nate said, coming up next to his recently re-aquainted with best friend, "we need to talk."

* * *

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter 6

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

Nate was trying to understand. He really was.

At the moment all he could do was stare at Chuck. Chuck was leaning back in his seat, head resting against the back of the couch. His head was tilted so that his face was directed at the ceiling. His eyes were open, but he wasn't even blinking.

Nate had never seen Chuck look as serious as he looked now. Chuck bullshitted his way through everything. Nothing fazed him. He felt no remorse, and he worked his way around anything in his way.

He was Nate's best friend. Nate knew him better than anyone else—or at least he thought he did. He never thought Chuck would go for Blair after he and her broke up. He never thought Chuck would lie to him about being with Blair… though technically it wasn't a lie. Chuck never lied. He avoided the truth so that he wouldn't get caught in a lie.

When Jenny told him the truth, Nate couldn't believe it… and yet, he should have. He should have known Chuck by now. Chuck made it a game, how many girls can I sleep with this week? How many girls can he deprive of their virginity this month?

He just never thought Chuck would go so far as to use Blair that way. For months after learning the truth, he believed that Chuck had done just that. He believed that Chuck didn't give a damn about Blair. That he'd used her and gotten what he wanted. That he'd gotten to Blair because she was vulnerable and heartbroken.

He couldn't stand the idea that Chuck had used Blair in one of his sick little games.

But then Chuck had confessed his true feelings at the wedding. Chuck was in love with Blair. It was quite the revelation. The most affection Chuck Bass had ever shown was uttering the little word "care". That 'L' word had never once passed Chuck's lips with any measure of feeling behind it, not as far as Nate knew—and he'd known Chuck a very long time.

If Chuck really was saying it, it had to be the truth… didn't it?

Nate remembered that moment on the steps when he and his father arrived for the ceremony. The Captain said that whoever the girl was that they were fighting over, she wasn't worth it. To which Chuck replied, "couldn't agree more." Nate then said very distinctly, "that's the problem," before going inside.

Did Chuck finally understand why Nate didn't want to have anything to do with him at that moment? Did he finally understand that Nate thought Chuck had just used Blair? Did he finally understand that Blair was too important in Nate's mind to just use and discard?

And… if Chuck finally understood all that… did he use that knowledge to tell the biggest lie of them all? Did he tell Nate that he was in love with Blair just to make things right between them?

That was the only explanation running through Nate's head at the moment… and it wasn't helping Chuck's cause at all.

Chuck had followed Nate into an adjoining room after Nate told him he wanted to talk. Chuck had quietly filled Nate in on the pertinent details of Blair's hijacking.

Nate now knew everything. And there wasn't much he could do about the problem but sit with his friends, dread the worst, and hope for the best.

But Serena's words were still echoing in his mind, and as much as it appeared as though Chuck was going through hell—as evidenced by the lack of expression on his face and the teeth and hands that he kept periodically clenching—Nate couldn't let it go.

"So… what happened?" Nate finally asked.

Chuck moved his eyes toward Nate, ruffling his eyebrows in confusion, "Gonna need a little more than that." He'd just finished explaining to Nate 'what happened.' Blair's plane was hijacked…

"Okay, then _here's_ more," Nate said, shifting his feet. He was sitting on the arm of the couch, arms crossed. "Serena said something about you blowing Blair off for a…correct me if I'm wrong…_booty call?_"

Chuck closed his eyes again, doing that hand clenching thing. He didn't know what to say.

"Or was I just hearing things? Did Bart's plane just get in late or something? Because the Chuck Bass I spoke to on the phone about… oh, say… five hours ago? He was a _man in love_. He was about to go to Europe and he actually sounded _happy_ about it," Nate said, keeping his voice devoid of any anger or judgment, just stating the facts with emphasis on certain parts.

Chuck still didn't reply.

"So, what happened?" Nate asked again. "What happened between our talk and say… twenty minutes later? Why is Blair all alone on that plane right now? Why did you blow her off? Who was that girl that nearly knocked me over in her haste to get away from Serena? Is what Serena said really true? And if so, why? Why would you do that to Blair? What _happened_?" His voice was still low, but some of the anger was creeping in.

"That I'd like to know too," Serena said from the doorway.

She'd finally regained some internal strength, though she had no idea where it came from, enough to notice that Nate and Chuck were missing from the room. She'd disentangled herself from her mother, went to tell Bart about Blair's request regarding 'touching'—making sure that Eleanor didn't hear, and then went into the next room to find Chuck collapsed on a couch with Nate grilling him.

Chuck didn't have any answers he was prepared to share with them. He couldn't share. He didn't know how. It would require too much from him. So being attacked on both fronts caused him to close himself off completely. He opened his eyes and looked back and forth between them as he forced a smirk onto his face.

"What has you more upset? The fact that Blair was hijacked? Or the fact that I'm not on that plane with her?" he forced himself to ask.

"Oh, no," Nate said, shaking his head. "I want an answer. You told me you _love_ her. Was that even _true_?"

Chuck stared at Nate, mind racing as he tried to follow what Nate was talking about. He'd told Nate and meant every word… Then he realized what Nate was saying… He was none too pissed. He braced himself and crossed a leg across his knee, appearing to relax even more into the couch.

"Yes, Nathaniel," Chuck said with sarcasm, patronizing him, "I told you I was in love with her so that you'd be my friend again. Because we're in middle school." He couldn't hold back a short angry laugh.

"So I lied to you and made up with her just so I could get into her pants. Never mind that I'd already been there, done that." He glared at Nate, unprepared for the swell of anger running through him.

"It should have been you…"

Chuck turned to face his stepsister. Serena was still standing by the doorway. She wasn't glaring, but only because she seemed defeated at the moment.

"It should have been you… you should have been on there," Serena whispered again.

"You think I don't know that?" Chuck said with disgust.

"I don't know why she even went back to you after what you did… but she did. She gave you a second chance," Serena said. "And for what? So that you could betray her and not give a damn about what happens to her?"

That was it. Chuck had it.

"Don't," Chuck said through his teeth, glaring at Serena with more anger than she'd ever seen from him before. Thus far she'd only ever seen him amused and sarcastic, never reacting with anger. She'd seen some of what made him tick when Bart kicked him out, it was the first time she realized that Chuck Bass might actually have human feelings… but if he did, then how could he do this?

"Don't what?" Serena said, anger rising. "Tell the truth? When have you once thought about someone other than yourself? Never. You're probably happy that you missed the flight. This way, _you_ don't have to be _inconvenienced_!"

Nate jumped up and moved between the two of them the minute he saw the look on Chuck's face. He hadn't seen Chuck look that angry since he ran into Dan Humphrey the morning after Kiss On The Lips. He didn't think Chuck would strike Serena, but he wasn't taking any chances.

Chuck stood up slowly.

He knew what Nate was doing. And as much as he wanted to lash out at Serena, he knew he couldn't. But, he'd had enough of Serena and her accusations. He already knew everything she was saying… but she was very wrong about the last part. He did care what happened to Blair, and he did wish he were on that flight.

He didn't go for Serena but Nate could feel the anger radiating off of Chuck and knew that he'd had enough.

"Serena, can you just go into the other room?" Nate asked. "You're only making it worse."

"Me? _Me?_ I'm making it worse?" Serena said, flabbergasted. "I think things are as bad as they're going to get. And he told you that he _loves_ her? He doesn't know the meaning of the word," she scoffed.

"Serena, please," Nate said, lowering his voice but his eyes were very serious.

"Fine," Serena said. "But make sure he knows he's not getting away with anything. I will not let him hurt her again. I won't. If… _when_ she's home, safe and sound, he'll come near her over my dead body."

"That can be arranged," Chuck managed to mutter.

"It doesn't matter, Chuck," Serena said. "She already knows you didn't catch the later flight. What do you think she made of that, huh? She's not stupid. She's probably figured at least half of it out. Why don't you think about that!"

"Serena!" Nate said loudly. "Just go. Please."

She looked at Nate for a moment before turning on her heel and leaving the room.

Chuck collapsed back down, this time on the end of the couch furthest away from Nate.

"Go on, say whatever else you want to say then follow her," Chuck said, motioning his head toward Serena's exit.

"I'm not leaving. I want to know what's going on with you," Nate asked. He was starting to realize that he was missing something big. Chuck hadn't tried to go for Serena until she acted like he didn't care about Blair.

Chuck just shook his head. It didn't matter now.

"Do you love her?" Nate asked, exasperated.

"Nate, just leave," Chuck said, exasperated him self. He was too shaken up by Serena's last proclamation. He'd been deluding himself into thinking that everything would work out. Blair was probably putting everything together and she probably thought, at the very least, that he wasn't going to show. She might not figure out the rest… but the minute she got home she would know. Serena would see to that.

"No. Listen, I know you didn't lie before. I don't know why I asked that. But…," Nate sighed. "Why, for the love of God, would you go behind her back? Why would you cheat on her?" Nate insisted.

"I didn't cheat on her," Chuck said firmly.

"Only because you didn't get the chance!"

"_I_ didn't cheat on her," Chuck said, glaring at him. He didn't know why he was drilling this point home, but it seemed since Serena was so scared for Blair that she was lashing out at him he might as well do the same to Nate.

Nate gave him a dumbfounded look, unable to believe Chuck just went there.

"You know what?" Nate said. "You're right. _I_ did. _I_ cheated on her. And you know what else? _She_ didn't deserve it. Just like she didn't deserve it now! She's too good for that!"

Chuck could mention the fact that she turned on him all those months ago and went back to Nate. It was almost like she'd cheated on him… but she'd broken up with him first… and it wasn't really fair because they'd decided to start over.

"Well, if she's so great, why don't _you_ take her back," Chuck muttered.

Nate stared at Chuck, trying to figure out why the hell he would even bring that up right now. Then with startling clarity, he started to put the pieces together.

"Is that what you think? That I still want her?" Nate asked, perplexed.

Chuck shook his head in exasperation. "This conversation is over."

"Or…," Nate started, then realization hit. "Shit, Chuck, shit. I haven't spoken to her in six months with the exception of the day before the wedding and all that crap with Serena. Even then, I didn't want to talk to her. She's never once tried to makeup. You know how she is. She might wait for things to settle, but she would have tried something to get back with me if that's what she wanted."

"I said, this _conversation_ is _over_," Chuck said, deadly calm, staring straight ahead.

He wasn't going to deny that Nate had figured out a huge part of his problem, but he felt too weird when the words were out in the open. He couldn't deal with that. He didn't want to feel it. He didn't feel comfortable with Nate knowing that he was… what's the word?... insecure. _Blah_, he was _not_ insecure. That word shouldn't even be in his vocabulary. Just like butterflies and stomach flutters shouldn't be anywhere near his vocabulary either, _damn it._

Nate just watched Chuck, seeing him close down and completely expressionless again. He knew he was at least partly right. But he respected Chuck not wanting to talk about it. And he finally understood why Chuck had done what he'd done. He wasn't angry at him anymore… and he wasn't going to make Chuck talk about it. He finally knew what happened.

"Alright," Nate said.

He stood up and started toward the exit but paused at the door, not looking back.

"Talk to her, Chuck. When she gets home, talk to her. Don't do anything you'll regret before you do. Once you lose her, it's hard to get her back… as I'm sure you know," Nate said before leaving.

Nate tried not to wince after he said the last sentence. He didn't want to reveal any of his feelings about Blair to Chuck and he might just have. He would always love Blair Waldorf, but it wasn't enough or the right kind of love to last forever. He knew that now. He knew that if she hadn't been with Chuck, he would probably still be with her now. They would be happy and in love. But something else would happen to tear them apart. They weren't meant to be. He didn't know if Chuck and Blair were, but he knew that they had a hell of a better chance than him and Blair ever did… as long as Chuck didn't screw it up too much.

* * *

Blair was in the process of pressing "End" on her phone when she heard the loud blast. She shrieked and dropped the phone. Fortunately, the sound of her scream covered the sound of the clatter from the phone.

Unfortunately, the door to the bathroom opened before she could bend down to grab it.

She stared in horror at the hole in the door, unable to comprehend that the lock was just destroyed by a gunshot, _a gunshot!_

Then the combo of her fear and panic fluxed with anger and she started yelling at the guy while using her foot to kick the phone off to the side before he noticed it.

"What are you! An idiot? Do you want to kill us all? What if that had gone through the hull of the plane! And… and… what if I'd been about to open the door? You could have killed me! Try getting a ransom then!"

"Shut up!" he said, grabbing her arm and starting to drag her out of the bathroom.

"Shut up? Shut up? That's all you can say?" Blair said, tugging her arm back. She didn't care if she was pissing him off. She had to distract him so he didn't look around the bathroom and wonder too much as to why she had been taking so long. And she couldn't leave the bathroom until she got the phone back.

He pushed her up against the wall and put the gun barrel right in her face. "How's this?" he muttered. "I'm sure this says it all."

Blair rolled her eyes and turned her head away from the barrel. "Yeah right, you're going to shoot me in the head? I'm sure my father would love to give you lots of money for a body," she said sarcastically. She was tired of being the weepy scared damsel. She didn't take crap from anyone, least of all this guy. He may have power over her, but she did too—over him. He didn't want his money bags to lose any value.

"Do you really want to test me?" Vince asked, incredulous. He'd been toying with the girl, but he honestly couldn't believe she was behaving this way. What teenaged girl didn't start crying when a gun was thrust in her face? And he was starting to get a little ticked that she'd called his bluff about shooting her. She wasn't supposed to be that smart. She wasn't supposed to turn the tables on him.

"No," Blair said firmly. "What I want is to wash my hands." She was keeping it together. She knew she was taking a chance by talking like this, but she had to. She needed to get that damn phone.

Vince glared at her with the gun still pressed to her face for almost a full minute. "Who do you think is in control here?" he muttered.

"Why, you are, of course," Blair said. She was fidgety, but, oddly, not because of him. Covering up the fallen phone was more important at this point… because she just realized why calling Serena was the absolute stupidest thing she had ever done.

If he found that phone, he was going to check the outgoing calls.

Surely even he would wonder why she was calling herself.

Vince stared at her a moment longer.

She finally decided to lower her eyes as if she was being somewhat submissive. "Can I please wash my hands?" she asked, turning on the politeness. "I'd really rather not return to my seat with pee hands. That's just gross." She figured if she made herself seem less attractive—seriously, pee on her hands? As if!—she wouldn't have to worry too much about the touching thing.

He finally stepped back and pushed her toward the sink. She caught herself before she crashed into it too hard.

"Thank you," she made herself whisper, shuddering on the inside at behaving so submissively.

He nodded as he backed toward the door.

She watched him, not going for the faucet just yet.

"What?" he grunted. "Wash your hands."

"Um, I need to fix my makeup too, would you mind getting my purse? I feel so much calmer and less prone to act out when my makeup is just right," she improvised.

Vince crossed his arms and leaned back against the door jab.

"Well?" she asked.

"No," he said simply.

"Really, it'll be so much—," she started but he interrupted.

"Twenty seconds," he said.

"But I—"

"Eighteen seconds," he said. "Thought you wanted to wash your hands," he said suspiciously.

She turned and slammed the faucet on. She couldn't let him get too suspicious. She would just have to wash her hands and figure out another way to get the phone so she could sneak it back into his pocket.

She just really didn't know how she was going to do that.

* * *

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter 7

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

The jig was up.

The minute the shot was fired, the business men couldn't contain themselves anymore.

They knew that there was a possibility that one of them was partners with Vince, but no one knew for sure. And at the sound of the shot, they didn't care.

Paul looked around at his fellow co-workers and said, "Screw this."

They all looked at him.

"Ben, I know you said that one of us was working with Vince, but no one knows who and I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing when he could have just said that to _make_ us think that," Paul continued.

He reached for _his_ cell phone. Vince had neglected to take theirs from them, but no body had dared go for theirs because they didn't know who the "mole" was, and they didn't think it would matter in the grand scheme of things to try to contact the authorities.

"And who are you going to call?" Ben said, glancing at the rest of the men who all seemed on edge after the gun shot.

"The police? My family? Bart Bass?" Paul said. "I don't know, but a gunshot is not good. And I have to do _some_thing."

"Paul, think about this," Ben tried to make the man see reason.

"I am!" Paul said in a harsh whisper as his fingers started fumbling over the numbers.

"No, you're not," a deep voice said as the cold metal of a barrel was pressed to the back of Paul's head.

Paul flinched and dropped his phone.

"Tim?" Ben said, incredulous. Of all the men on the flight, he would think Tim would be the least likely candidate for the partner.

"What can I say?" Tim said, finally standing up with the gun firmly in place against Paul's head. "Money is a powerful motivator. And Bart Bass has a lot of it."

"You do realize that this girl is _not_ Bart Bass, right?" Ben said. "I don't know what you have against the man, he's a great employer, but wouldn't it make more sense to hold _him_ for ransom?"

"Ben, Ben, Ben," Tim said, shaking his head of graying balding hair. "You're new. You just don't understand."

"Then help me to," Ben insisted. He wanted to keep the guy talking, but he also wanted him to take that gun away from Paul's head because Paul was starting to look a little too pale, and the man was actually shaking.

"I don't have time for this," Tim said, shaking his head. "Vince made a slight error when he didn't take everyone's phones. I'm rectifying."

He grabbed a bag off the over head storage area and opened it before dropping it to the floor. "Everyone, cell phone's out." He went down the line, aiming a gun at each of the men until they handed over their phones. He made sure to check each of them before putting them in the bag. He checked outgoing calls and messages to make sure no one else had tried to be a hero. He still couldn't believe Vince had been stupid enough to forget to grab them all from the men. Of course, he hadn't been able to point that out without revealing his identity to the men, so he'd just kept a close eye on them all and made sure no one tried anything.

He'd been pleasantly surprised when Ben realized Vince had been giving a veiled clue about another partner. Vince was supposed to be more suggestive when he said that so everyone realized, but Vince fudged it badly. He hoped Vince hadn't fudged anything else too badly.

For instance, _had_ he shot the hostage? The other men weren't the only ones on edge waiting for Vince to return. All of Tim's plans were going to be messed up if that girl was dead.

He'd been surprised at how much Serena looked like Charles. They really could pass for siblings. Tim had known of Charles since he was a little boy, including what he looked like. But Bart Bass had just married a week ago and nobody on the marketing team had the… _pleasure?_... of meeting the rest of the family just yet.

The change in plans—a daughter instead of a son—was a little nerve wracking, but Tim figured that going ahead with the plan was the best thing to do. Bart Bass might not be close to his new daughter yet, but he wouldn't want to upset his new wife so soon after the honeymoon. He was going to pay anything to get this girl back, and Tim wanted that money.

"What's going on?" Vince said as he came back into the seating area and noticed Tim standing. He continued pushing Blair forward as he held a gun on her.

"The men were getting ideas," Tim shrugged. "Had to nip that in the bud." His eyes followed the girls' movements. "She okay?"

"Doesn't she look it?" Vince said as he pushed Blair into her seat.

"Hey!" Blair exclaimed. "No need to be so mean. I was going to sit," she finished sarcastically. She adjusted her skirt and leaned back with a huff, crossing her legs at the ankles.

"What happened back there?" Tim said, gesturing his head.

"He shot the door," Blair said, rolling her eyes.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Vince said, jabbing the gun into her side.

"Ow," Blair said mockingly, dismissing him as she looked across to this other guy with a gun.

Blair wanted to size up this new guy. She knew he was one of the other businessmen, but she hadn't paid much attention to any of them before. Vince was proving to be quite the idiot. Shooting a door when she might have been behind it? He hadn't even said "stand back" or anything!

But this new guy… he was older than Vince and had a very different demeanor. He could be a problem. Something about him made her think he was smart. And that might not be good for her…

She just had to be smarter than him.

* * *

"Why haven't they called again?" Eleanor asked, her nerves beyond fried.

"They will in their own time, Eleanor," Bart said, his eyes drilling into hers. "Stay calm. Everything will be just fine."

"You keep saying that, but it didn't help the first time, second time, or third time I asked, what makes you think it will help _this_ time?" Eleanor said, snottily.

"Honestly? It doesn't matter if it helps. I'm not a shrink and I'm not going to pretend to be. So either sit down and be quiet, or just leave and let me handle this," Bart said simply. He wasn't losing his cool, but listening to her endless prattle was interrupting him as he went over some business reports.

"Bart…" Lily said, a little amazed that he was speaking that way to a woman whose daughter was kidnapped.

"No, he's right," Eleanor said. She sat down. "I'm like the kid asking _Are we there yet?_ every five minutes. I apologize, Bart." She closed her mouth and shifted nervously. She really wanted to hit Bart for speaking to her that way, but his words were making her find some backbone, so she couldn't hate him too much for it.

Bart just nodded, eyes still on his paperwork.

"I'm so sorry, Eleanor," Lily said.

"We'll get her back soon," Eleanor said, closing her eyes. "We'll get her back."

Lily reached across and took hold of Eleanor's hand. "We will."

* * *

Ben had no idea what Blair was doing, but it was making him nervous.

Tim and Vince were conversing to the side, but keeping an eye on everyone while they did so. No one could hear what was being said. But it looked like Tim was doing all the talking.

Blair had made eye contact with Ben as soon as the conference started and seemed to be widening her eyes and jerking her head to the side as if she wanted to tell him something.

Ben had shaken his head very briefly to indicate that he not only had no idea what she was doing, he also wanted her to stop.

She didn't.

Instead, her eyes found Tim and Vince and when they weren't looking at her, she used one hand to press her middle three fingers into her palm, spread her thumb and pinkie away from the other fingers and held it up quickly to her ear.

She was acting out using a phone. He shook his head and nodded toward the bag on the floor which clearly showed all the cell phones sticking out of the top.

She saw it and shook her head.

He raised his eyebrows and tried to mime confusion.

She started jerking her head to the side and slowly moving her eyes in the same direction as before.

Ben looked toward where she was trying to direct him, but he didn't get it. Did she want him to distract Vince and Tim so she could grab a phone? But why did she need a phone? It was just like with Paul earlier. A phone would be no help at all.

Blair sighed and rolled her eyes heavenward as she tried to think.

Ben saw her hold her hand hesitantly over her skirt but then she seemed to think better of it. She shook her hands to show that he was supposed to ignore that.

Blair had been about to mime going to the bathroom. That probably wouldn't have been the best way to do so.

She tried to figure a better way to tell him what she wanted him to do. She felt like she was playing charades and she hadn't played that since she was in middle school.

_Charades!_

She hoped he'd played the game before, because who hadn't played it before? She reached up to her ear and tugged on the lobe. Her eyes were on the men as she mouthed, "sounds like," enunciating her lips as much as possible.

He winced for a minute in concentration but finally nodded when he realized she had decided to make this like a game of charades.

She kept her eyes on the men as she used her pointer fingers and rested one on the top of the other, forming a 'T'.

His eyebrows wrinkled again. Something that sounded like 'T'?

He shifted in his seat, glancing over at the men before raising a hand up to his eye and mouthing 'See'?

She sighed and shook her head.

He tried to think. He started going through every letter of the alphabet. Could she mean 'Bee'? But somehow he didn't think there was a bee on the plane. If so, she would have been freaking out, right? That's what girls do.

_Oh!_ Maybe she wanted him to _act_ like there was bee. A bee attacking him. To serve as a distraction so she could get a phone?

He didn't like the sound of that. He still didn't think that there was any good use for a phone. He looked over to the men with guns. No way was he going to stand up and start shouting about a bee and smacking himself like a crazy person. He might just end up with a sting—one from a bullet.

He shook his head like she was crazy.

She nodded encouragingly.

He quirked an eyebrow and tapped his arm with a finger, pretending to lurch and clench his teeth together like his was getting stung.

She brought her hand up to her forehead and rested her elbow on her other hand as she contemplated the stupidity of this man.

She had to breathe for a minute to let out her frustration before she tried again.

She noticed the guys had finished their talk and were on their way back to their seats. She quickly held up her pointer finger on one hand and met her thumb and pointer finger of her other hand on the side of the pointing finger. She prayed he figured out that she was spelling a 'P' before the men noticed anything amiss.

She held her fingers like that for as long as she dared. The second she clasped her hands together as if she was behaving innocently was the second that Vince reached out for her arm and grabbed her, jerking her roughly to her feet.

"Hey! Careful," Blair exclaimed. "You could just ask me to follow you."

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Vince said, not giving a damn if he hurt her or not. He'd just gotten reamed out by his 'boss' for failing to get the cell phones of everyone together—which he had to do when he blew his cover—and for firing a shot at the girl. He'd had to listen to their entire plan again even though he knew it backwards and forwards, but since he'd messed up once, Tim was worried he'd mess up again.

What was Tim's problem? It wasn't like Vince had done this before. It wasn't his chosen profession after all. And hearing this bitch talk down to him the same way Tim did? It was riling him up even more. So, screw her. If he wanted to grab her arm and yank her around, he would.

* * *

"Is the money ready?" came the weirdly distorted voice through the ear piece.

"Yes," Bart muttered. It'd been ready for quite some time, but Bart decided not to include that mention.

"The account number is," the voice began.

"Just a second," Bart interrupted.

"Do you want your daughter back or not?"

"How do I even know she's still alive?" Bart said. His eyes flickered to meet Serena's across the desk. She looked deathly pale, and even though Chuck had insisted that Serena couldn't have possibly heard a gunshot, he knew that she still believed it.

"You talked to her," the voice said.

"Earlier, yes," Bart said. "I want to speak to her again, _now._"

Chuck was standing near the door, leaning against the wall, resting his chin on his hand. To the casual observer he looked like he was lounging and didn't have a care in the world. Of course that was the furthest from the truth.

He'd stayed in the other room after Nate left and he hadn't moved until he heard the phone ring.

As much as he was glad he didn't have to deal with Serena's bitching or Nate's prodding, being left to his own thoughts was probably worse.

He couldn't have screwed things up worse if he tried. He didn't usually feel guilt or normally care when he messed things up. Like the thing with Lily when his father was being interviewed by that Asian chick. Sure, he'd screwed up, and he had to admit it to his dad, but he didn't have any _feelings_ in the matter. He only told his father the truth because he knew that sooner or later Bart would talk to Lily and find out anyway. Telling his father the problem immediately would be better for Chuck than waiting later.

This was different. Chuck Bass wasn't supposed to have a conscience.

And he knew.

He'd already started changing no matter how much he tried to deny it.

All those things his father was talking about… sacrifice, responsibility, putting someone else before himself… taking into consideration someone else's feelings… it was actually reality.

If he hadn't been living in it before, he was now.

Serena was going to tell Blair. She was going to tell Blair that he was going to cheat on her. And no matter what he did, no matter how many times he told Serena to keep silent about it, she wasn't going to. She'd made that clear.

If only he could get the chance to talk to Blair first. If only he could explain everything and admit it himself. Because this time he very much had feelings in the matter. He felt _bad_ for what he'd, well, _almost_ done.

And he knew that even though _Blair_ knew he'd never change, there were certain things that she wouldn't accept. Did he really think that Blair wouldn't mind not being exclusive? He remembered how she was when she found out the truth about Nate and Serena. He'd never seen her be a bigger bitch. He thought it was hot actually. He still wished he'd gotten a video of Serena and Blair's field hockey throw down. He knew now that the only reason Blair and Serena had finally made up after the Ivy Mixer debacle was because Eric had revealed the truth to Blair.

Of course, he hadn't found that out until many months later when he started hanging with Eric himself. Sometime before spring break, word leaked about Eric's time in Ostroff. Chuck had put two and two together and knew that Serena wasn't the patient, she was the visitor. He felt a little disgruntled that Blair hadn't told him at the time, but he knew he probably would have ran with it just to get back at the little slut, meaning Serena, for rejecting him when she first came back. Which, now that he was getting to know his little bro, wouldn't have been a good thing.

That wasn't the point. The point was… he was an idiot. Blair wouldn't forgive this easily. She didn't even know the worst part yet and she was probably well on her way to being pissed at him for not bothering to follow her.

He was actually worried that he was going to lose her again over this. And, more than that, he was beginning to understand that if she really cared about him… as he'd figured out by the fact that she risked calling Serena to make sure _he_ was safe… then she was going to be hurt. Her _feelings_ were going to be hurt… and he was starting to realize that he didn't want that for her.

He didn't know if she loved him, but he _did_ know what if felt like to be hurt by someone he loved.

He didn't want to do that to her. He'd already done enough. She'd already done enough.

And, right now, she was _going_ through enough.

If she was still alive, that is. He had no doubts. He didn't think the hijacker would be stupid enough to shoot the hostage that he was using to get the money. That didn't stop him from being on edge while his father convinced the guy on the phone to let him speak to Blair.

"You're in no position to make demands," the voice said.

Bart didn't know whether to start getting worried or not. He'd asked to speak to Blair twice now, and both times it had been refuted. He didn't want to admit it, but he was beginning to wonder if what Serena had said was right. He hoped that girl wasn't hurt. Chuck was finally starting to stop his life of debauchery. He didn't need his son losing someone who was clearly turning his life around.

Serena couldn't stand it anymore. She knew she was supposed to be quiet, but she couldn't resist. "What? Is she talking? Is she alright?"

Bart held up a hand. Serena shut up, but she started tapping her foot. Nate was standing next to her chair. He put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Shh, it'll be okay." Her foot slowed down.

"Yes, I do believe I am," Bart said firmly. "I'm about to transfer ten million dollars into an untraceable account. I have no assurance that you will, in fact, turn her over once the money has been transferred. I haven't even been told how this _exchange_ will take place. What I do know is that I am not transferring a _penny_ to that account until I hear her voice in this phone assuring me that she is okay, and that not a hair on her head has been touched! _Do_ you understand?"

Okay, so he lost his cool a tad bit. He hated being inconvenienced. He was about to be out ten million dollars. And he hated taking orders from a stupid little man who he was going to fire soon anyway.

Eleanor and Lily were staring at him in abject horror, unable to believe that he would speak so rudely. What if the hijacker took it out on Blair?

Chuck and Nate looked at each other. They were both thinking about the 'touching' part. Apparently Serena had told Bart what Blair said. This, at least, was one thing that there was no difference in opinion on. They were the only two males who had ever laid a hand on Blair Waldorf and they would be damned to hunting down the bastard if he dared lay a hand on _their_ Blair.

It was an odd best friend bonding moment, but it couldn't be helped.

"Your wife must be pleased," the voice said.

"What?" Bart said, confused and incredulous and not in the mood for this guy to keep playing with him.

"You and your step daughter are a lot alike," the voice said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bart grunted.

"I am the one in control here. You both seem to have forgotten that," the voice said.

Bart opened his mouth to respond but was greeted by a sound that he really didn't want to explain to the other people in the room.

"What? What happened?" Serena squeaked out when she saw Bart hold the phone away from his ear and look at it.

"He hung up," Bart finally muttered before he flipped his phone shut and tossed it on his desk.

"What!" Serena almost shrieked as she shot out of her seat. "What did you do! _What did you do!_"

"Calm down," Bart said firmly. "Everything will be just fine."

"Calm down? Calm down?" Serena yelled. "Who the _hell_ do you think you are? What would make you speak to him like that? I don't believe this!"

"I suggest you sit down, young lady," Bart said, eyes sparking.

"Don't tell me what to do! You're _not_ my _father_!" Serena yelled before turning and storming from the room.

Chuck was too busy trying to not let the bottom drop out from his stomach to deal with Serena. He didn't want to if he could. She'd probably just ream him out for everything once again anyway.

Nate looked from Chuck to Lily, the latter who was about to go after Serena. He hurried forward and gestured to Lily quickly, "I got her."

Lily nodded and went to clasp hands with Eleanor again.

Eleanor was really starting to lose it, but instead of the anger at Bart that Serena displayed, she was scared. She was so scared.

"Does… does this mean my little girl isn't okay?" Eleanor finally managed to say.

Chuck looked to his father for an answer to that question. He knew his father was a smart man who never bullshitted. He would speak the truth bluntly and you could either accept it or not, either way, Bart gave the only response that mattered.

"Eleanor, I don't think she's been hurt," Bart finally said. "Though making demands doesn't seem to be a good idea. That should have caught him off guard and gotten me what I wanted easier."

"Why didn't it work then?" Chuck asked, a little amazed that his father had been wrong.

"Because, it seems, Blair had already used that approach first," Bart said.

Eleanor looked at Bart, clearly confused. "I don't understand."

"Blair must have created some sort of power struggle on board. She tried to put him in his place and call his bluff. Maybe he threatened her with the gun and she told him that she knew he wouldn't shoot her. This play for control might have worked for her, but it wasn't going to happen for me because he'd already had too much time to rectify that first mistake," Bart explained.

"How do you know all this?" Lily asked.

"Because he compared her to me, and that's what I would have done," Bart said simply, slightly impressed that Blair wasn't weak and whiney like most teenage girls would be. He shouldn't be surprised though. His son wasn't a big fan of weakness.

"So, what now?" Eleanor asked, holding on to the slim hope that what Bart said about Blair being okay was true.

"He'll call back. He hasn't given me the account number yet," Bart shrugged.

"You better be right," Eleanor said, not bothering to look at Bart. "You better be right."

* * *

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter 8

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

"What was that?" Tim asked from the doorway. He was keeping watch on the rest of the passengers while Vince took Blair with him to make the next call to Bart.

Vince rolled his eyes and shrugged.

Blair's mouth had dropped open when the idiot had hung up. She couldn't hear what Bart was saying, but she knew he was making some sort of demand that pissed Vince off. She didn't really appreciate being compared to Bart Bass though. Because, really? Who wanted to be compared to their boyfriend's father… well… quasi-boyfriend… and after Serena had revealed that Chuck hadn't even followed her to Tuscany… let's just say that Chuck Bass had a lot of explaining to do so that term was being used relatively loosely.

"You were supposed to give him the account number, why didn't you?" Tim said, showing that he wasn't pleased by the tone of his voice.

"It was taking up too much time. We told him not to contact the police, doesn't mean he hasn't," Vince said before continuing with a disgusted look at Blair. "He started making demands, like the girl."

"Don't blame this on me," Blair said. "You're the one who hung up. I didn't do anything."

"Would you shut up?" Vince said, shaking his head at Blair annoyingly.

Blair shrugged. "Just as long as you don't blame this on me. I just sat here quietly, minding my own business." It was actually becoming fun to play with Vince's head like this. Once she realized that Tim was already not too pleased with Vince—and that Vince hated to look like an idiot—she was making a conscientious effort to make Vince look like an even bigger one.

Though that might not be a good idea, she also realized, when Vince got too hot under the collar at her words and drew his hand back like he was about to slap her.

"Vince!" Tim snapped.

Vince stopped before he went any further.

"What demand did he make?" Tim said through his teeth.

"He wanted to talk to _her_," Vince said, still glowering at Blair. "Make sure she was still alive and kicking or something."

"And you didn't let him, because? I thought that was the reason you brought her out here anyway?" Tim said slowly.

Blair _really_ wanted to say, 'Because he's an idiot,' but managed to hold herself back. She did allow a smug look to settle on her face though.

"I was just showing him who's boss. Little miss over here tried making demands earlier, just like him. Gotta put them in their place before they overstep themselves," Vince explained. "And it doesn't hurt to make them shut up and listen every once in a while. This girl doesn't know how to shut up, as you can tell!"

Blair rolled her eyes. As if she'd made any demands! Sure, 'get my purse' or 'don't shoot me—well, I know you won't because then you won't get any money!' could equate to demands. She couldn't help laughing inside.

That was until she heard Tim's next words.

"Tape her mouth shut," Tim suggested with a shrug. "That'll get her to shut up if she bothers you that much. _I'm_ calling Bass next time, but let's wait a while since you already hung up. No more problems, Vince," Tim warned. "I just want to get this over with."

"You don't really need to do that, I'll be quiet," Blair said.

"Good idea," Vince said, completely ignoring her words as he stood and yanked her to her feet.

"No, really, I'll be quiet," Blair promised. "You won't hear a word, not even a peep."

"Just like right now?" Vince said snidely as he dragged her along back into the main seating area.

"No, of course not," Blair said.

Vince pushed her into a seat next to Tim. "I don't believe you."

Blair turned to Tim, "No really, I'll be quiet. I hate putting things on my mouth." Well, except for lipstick, gloss… and kisses from—

She was _so_ not thinking about that right now.

Tim ignored her. He didn't want to talk to the hostage at all.

"Get the stuff you used on the stewardesses," Tim said to Vince. "Tape her mouth and her wrists together while you're at it. What's the point in putting it on the mouth if she can just pull it off?"

Vince nodded and went off to get the tape.

Meanwhile, Ben had finally figured out what Blair was talking about before the men had yanked her away.

He still hadn't quite figured out what Blair was trying to say as far as the "phone" motion, but he'd read her 'P' loud and clear. She wanted him to go to the bathroom for some reason.

He didn't know what was so imperative about him using the bathroom, but that _was_ something he could do… he most definitely wasn't going to act like a bee was attacking him, that was for damn sure.

"Uh, excuse me, uh, Tim?" Ben managed to say, his voice slightly hoarse from not using it lately.

Tim looked at him, his face expressionless.

"I know this isn't the best time, but… I gotta hit the head, kinda badly," Ben said, faking a look of discomfort and using words that he hoped would inspire comradeship and might possibly persuade Tim to let him go.

Tim just stared at Ben a minute longer, not saying anything.

Ben shifted under the stare, wondering if Tim was about to call his bluff and wonder why Ben wanted to go where Blair had gone less than an hour ago.

Instead, Tim continued to stare until Vince returned with the tape.

"Fix her up, then take Ben to the can," Tim instructed.

Vince rolled his eyes at once again having bathroom duty, but got over it really quickly as he took great pleasure out of putting tape over the girls' mouth and then jerking her hands together and taping those too. It was going to hurt like crazy when it was torn off of her later… maybe he could be in on that part as well. This girl had _really_ managed to piss him off.

* * *

"Serena, she's going to be okay," Nate reassured her.

He had followed Serena to a different sitting area, one on the second level outside of the bedrooms. Well, he more sprinted while she raced, but it still had the same effect.

He'd managed to get her to stop and flop down on one of those couches, and now she was just angry and crying tears of frustration.

"How do you know that, Nate?" Serena asked. "How can _anyone_ know that? And he… he… that stupid idiot just ticked them off! What if they hurt her because of what he did? Ahh! This is all my fault!"

She hated Bart Bass. Her mind kept replaying the moment that he told them all that the kidnapper had hung up. She didn't know if Blair was even alive right now, and she didn't know what she would do if she were dead. Could Blair really be dead? It would be her fault! Serena couldn't stop feeling the pain and guilt crash through her.

"No, it's not," Nate said soothingly.

"Yes, it is!" Serena cried out. Damn him for disagreeing with her.

"No, it's—," Nate started to deny it once again.

"YES! I told my mom that I'd rather she marry Bart than… this other guy she was interested in," Serena ranted, though she remembered to keep the Humphrey-Van Der Woodsen parental happenings secret even while she continued. "It's my fault that she married Bart Bass! If she hadn't, none of the gossip would have reached the newspapers and no one would be trying to go after Chuck and accidentally getting Blair…"

"Serena, even if your parents hadn't gotten married, you can't know that someone hadn't already been planning this before the wedding. They wanted Chuck, remember? And the fact that they got Blair instead of Chuck still has _nothing to do with you_," Nate said slowly, enunciating and hoping the truth would seep in to her guilt-ridden brain. "You had nothing to do with Chuck and Blair being together."

"Yes I did!" Serena ranted, groaning into the couch cushion.

"Would you just listen to yourself?" Nate said, flabbergasted. "You had nothing to do with them getting together. Nothing at _all_. In fact, if you want to place blame, Chuck and Blair got together because of me. Because _I_ broke up with her. See? You had nothing to do with it."

Well, technically she had broken up with him first… and the second time he'd only broken up with her because she'd already been with Chuck… so technically Blair being with Chuck _could_ be considered Blair's fault. But blaming Blair for her current predicament—even though Blair couldn't possibly be held responsible anyway—wouldn't help Serena. Maybe blaming himself would help though.

It didn't.

If anything, it made the sobbing worse. Serena buried her head into the couch and moaned. "See? It really _is_ all my fault!" Maybe everything bad that happened to Blair this year was her fault too… Blair would be happy and have no worries if Serena had just stayed away… but she had to come back for Eric. Maybe she should have just gone to public school.

Nate sighed and collapsed back in his seat, trying to figure out a new tactic. He couldn't understand why she was blaming herself for all of this. It made sense to him though; she'd blamed herself for that guy over dosing on cocaine just because she passed the drug to him. But this was just taking the blame game a little too far.

He finally got up and went over to kneel next to her by the couch. He reached out to touch her shoulder. "Serena, _none_ of this is your—"

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked, cringing away.

"What's wrong now?" Nate asked, perplexed. He noticed that her cell phone fell off the couch with her movements. She must have been carrying it around with her in case Blair called again.

"I did it! I slept with you!" Serena said, clenching her eyes shut. "None of this would have happened if I was a better person before. If I hadn't been such a drunk! _You_ broke up with her because of me! And look what happened!" She could barely even remember the drunken encounter with Nate, and it was the biggest mistake of her life! What if Blair was dead? It all happened because of that one stupid act.

"I take it back, it _is_ all your fault, Blair's plane was hijacked and she's being held for ransom because _you_ did it," Nate said sarcastically. "You made _all_ this happen."

"You're not helping," Serena said, heaving a little in her self pity.

"Listen to me," Nate said firmly. "This is _not_ your fault. You and Blair got past all that stuff a long time ago. It's just life. You guys dealt with it and moved on. Blair isn't going to blame you for this. I promise."

Serena didn't answer, but her tears were ebbing. She was calming down as she slowly allowed herself to hear what Nate was saying. Maybe she was over reacting… it wasn't like she could go back in time and change anything anyway… unless she hopped aboard the Ashton Kutcher express, but The Butterfly Effect wasn't real. And she really shouldn't have watched that movie last week during her movie and ice cream filled days while she moped over breaking up with Dan _and_ the fact that Blair was spending more time with Chuck than her.

Nate sighed with relief when she stopped crying hystericallyy. Then he realized something else.

"This is why you were like that with Chuck, wasn't it?" he asked softly.

Serena tensed a little but, once again, she didn't respond. She was pissed at Chuck for sure, but somewhere deep inside she _had_ expected this… she just thought he might be able to change… _she_ had done it. If she could, then maybe it was possible for Chuck as well.

"You blame yourself but it was easier to put all the blame on Chuck," he said knowingly. "I think… when Blair gets home—and she _will _be coming home—you need to let Chuck handle things with Blair." He had come up here to comfort her but had strangely managed to help out Chuck a little too. Go figure. Well wasn't that what best friends' were for?

Serena sighed. "I just… I can't believe him… Blair's gone through enough… and now, when she gets home… _if_ she gets home… she's going to come home to what?" Serena looked up at him with wide eyes.

She didn't want Blair to hurt anymore. She'd already been caused enough pain by everyone who was supposed to love her. She remembered the smile on Blair's face as she talked about Chuck and going to Tuscany. Blair was happy… really and truly happy… and it was only for a moment. Serena got to witness it for only a moment. And now it was all going to end. Blair would be coming home to pain and betrayal. And Serena would give anything to make it all go away.

"Serena…" Nate said, trying to figure out something to tell her. "I'm not sure it's your responsibility to tell her. I think Chuck already feels bad enough."

Serena snorted, though part of her was relieved at the idea that she wouldn't have to be the one to make the pain and betrayal come back. If she foisted the responsibility off on Chuck… Blair would still be hurt, but Serena would just be there to pick up the pieces, not be the messenger who inflicted the hurt.

"Believe it or not, Chuck _does_ care about her," Nate insisted. "He probably won't say anything to _you_ about it because you're… well… _you_. But I think he's torturing himself more than you could torture him at the moment."

Serena was quiet after that, contemplating his words.

Her cell phone beeped to indicate an incoming text message.

She turned her head and saw Nate pick the phone up off the floor.

"Is it Blair?" she asked hopefully though she didn't think it would be.

Nate flipped the phone open and clicked View, "No, it's—"

"I don't care, I'll read it later," she said before plopping her head back into the sofa cushion, rather ridiculously dramatic if you asked Nate.

Of course, Nate wouldn't be able to respond to the question because he'd just finished reading the text message that Serena didn't want to read.

He was actually glad she hadn't wanted to read it.

Really glad.

* * *

Blair was fit to be tied.

Actually, she _was_ tied… just with tape instead of rope.

She was absolutely disgusted at the stupid dirty sticky tape that the ugly pathetic excuse for a kidnapper had smacked across her mouth. It was not at all pleasant and it made her want to scream something fierce.

Not to mention, her wrists were tied together in front of her. And, _of course_, as soon as she finished struggling with Vince as he roughly wrapped the tape around her skin, her nose started itching.

Her nose never itched. She was probably having an allergic reaction to the dirt and other disgusting stuff that resided in the tape that was a centimeter below her nose. She didn't want to scratch it, though she could… but it would require lifting both hands while trying to be dignified about scratching it.

Which hardly seemed possible.

So she settled on trying to wiggle her nose, though it resembled more of a twitch. Of course, she was sure to glance around and make sure no one was watching as she attempted this impossible feat.

Just when she was starting to wish that she had some of Samantha's powers from Bewitched, Vince and Ben returned.

She completely forgot about her nose issues as she looked at Ben, hoping against hope that he had finally figured out what she'd been trying to mime and that he was now in possession of her cell phone.

After Ben settled back into his chair, he observed the other men to make sure no one was paying him any attention before giving Blair a small nod.

He'd gone into the bathroom hoping that whatever Blair was trying to convey would become evident on his entry because he still didn't know why she wanted him to go into the bathroom.

He'd had to look everywhere. At first, he'd seen nothing. He looked in the sinks, in the toilet paper holder, through the clean hand towels next to the sink. He'd even gone through the pile of dirty hand towels in the hamper _and_ he'd used a towel to sort through the trash. That was disgusting enough, but he was even more disgusted when nothing came of his trash search.

He started getting more and more anxious. He was _very _conscious of the fact that the door couldn't lock and that Vince could break in on him at any second if he grew impatient enough.

Finally, he'd just stood in a corner and stared around the room, trying to see if there was any other place that he hadn't looked. Then his eyes zoned in on the toilet. Any other bathroom would have a lid on the back of the toilet to lift up, but this was one of those weird contraptions designed specifically for a jet plane. His eyes fell to the floor under the toilet and behind the base and he realized that he saw the shadow of something peaking out the side.

He'd had to get down on all fours, but he managed to get the thing. It turned out to be Blair's orange cell phone. He remembered Vince taking the thing away from her right before he informed the passengers of the hijacking situation. He also remembered Blair pantomiming a phone during "charades" and he finally understood that she wanted the phone back and that she wasn't supposed to have it in the first place.

He almost dropped the stupid thing when it started beeping to indicate a new text message. Vince took that opportunity to knock on the door because Ben was taking too long.

Ben quickly hit End to stop the beeping and shoved the phone into his right trouser pocket. He quickly flushed the toilet in case Vince was waiting for that sound, and turned the faucet on and off quickly, dampening his hands.

And now he was back in the lounge area, settled into his seat and confirming to Blair that he had, in fact, retrieved the thing.

The only problem now was… how was he supposed to give her the phone when her hands were bound? But… he wasn't supposed to have the phone either. He was going to have to do something about the phone himself… but what?

* * *

Blair was resigned, and more than a little miserable. She was not enjoying this bondage thing in the slightest. She was beginning to feel more and more powerless and out of control—especially considering that she didn't know how to get a hold of the phone now that Ben actually had it. The lack of control was starting to make her panic.

Usually when she felt this way she would do everything she could to fix the problem before turning to her last resort in a bathroom. But now, there was no escape. There was only her own mind playing with her. The long silence that had stretched since Ben returned gave her plenty of time to start to worry and panic.

She didn't have any control. She was on a plane. Would they really land it soon? Are they really going to give her back? They would obviously be getting the money before she could go home, but are they really going to _let_ her go home? She _had _seen their faces. And everyone else on the plane already knew them. Had they figured out a way to escape the country and remain hidden forever and ever? And if they hadn't… what did that mean?

She worried about whether she would get to see her dad again, or Serena, or her mother. Would she ever get the chance to argue with Chuck about why he didn't leave on a later flight? Would she ever get the chance to try to settle things with Nate? He'd made up with Chuck, but thus far she and he had continued to avoid each other.

There were still so many things she wanted to do with her life. Finish high school a legend, go to Yale, marry at twenty-five, have two children—one boy, one girl, be a force to be reckoned with on the Upper East Side, and live happily ever after.

It was perfect, and it was her idea of perfect. And while some things seemed undetermined right now—the identity of the husband and eventual father of her children, whether to be a career woman or spend her time forming charities and helping the less fortunate—it was still a good plan. And these idiots were not going to take it from her.

She just needed to keep her wits about her. She could do this. She could figure something out.

"Okay, let's try this again," Tim finally said after patiently waiting twenty or so minutes.

"I'll take care of the call, you watch them this time," Tim instructed Vince. He wasn't taking any chances on Vince screwing things up further.

Blair was pulled to her feet by her bound wrists. At least she wasn't yanked this time. She'd had just about enough of Vince being rough with her.

* * *

Chuck was getting antsy. He didn't like these long waits in between phone calls. He'd rather just get this all over with as quickly as possible.

He especially wanted the next call to come through soon because of his father's slight error in judgment during the last one. From what his father had said, he believed too that Blair was okay—at least alive anyway.

But it would help his peace of mind if they would just fucking call already!

Nate and Serena still hadn't returned yet. Chuck wondered how that was going but he definitely didn't envy Nate the job. He wasn't sure if Serena would return after her blow up at Bart, but he figured she would just so she could know what was going on with Blair.

If he wasn't so worried about Blair, he'd be very amused by that argument. It was nice to finally see someone get in Bart's face and yell at him. Chuck didn't argue with him like that. He _could_ tell him that he should be around more, or tell him to stuff it whenever he showed his disappointment… there were many things he could yell at the man… but he didn't. Because it was his father. He held the purse strings… and Bart actually stuck around whereas… _Other_ people hadn't. But that was a thought for another time.

Chuck was definitely looking forward to future arguments of the same nature, but in the meantime, he'd just received a text message that demanded his attention.

It was a post from Gossip Girl. He tried not to roll his eyes. Couldn't she just take off for the summer? Then he had a thought and held his breath as he pressed the button to read. He hoped like hell that she hadn't somehow found out about Blair and was announcing it to the world.

He sighed with relief when he saw that it had nothing to do with Blair's predicament… but it _did_ have everything to do with Blair.

He closed his phone and leaned his head against the wall. He wasn't sure what the latest post meant… but he knew that everything that happened from here on out would give him the answer to every single question he'd ever had about Blair's feelings for him.

A few more minutes passed before Serena and Nate finally returned to the room.

Serena didn't look at Bart, or Lily. She went straight for the smaller sofa and sat down. She ignored everyone and just sat and waited.

Chuck made eye contact with Nate and held up his cell phone. He waggled it and arched an eyebrow.

Nate sighed and nodded, resigned, before shaking his head and indicating Serena.

Chuck shrugged and put his phone away.

Nate tilted his head to indicate the side room they had escaped to earlier.

Chuck pushed off the wall and started to follow him when Bart's phone finally rang.

Serena was out of her seat like a shot, and went straight to the chair in front of Bart's desk. She glared at Bart to indicate that he better not mess up this time.

He hesitated before answering the phone, just long enough to look at Serena with a warning look.

If he wasn't about to answer one of the most important phone calls of her life, Serena would have kicked him—she didn't care who he was. No wonder Chuck was such an ass. He learned it from his father.

"Bass," Bart answered his phone, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"This is the account number," the weirdly distorted voice said through the phone line.

As numbers were recited, Bart fumbled for the first time in his life to grab a pen before he missed the entire account number.

"Repeat it," the voice said.

Bart did as he was requested, wondering at this new approach. Before, the kidnapper seemed to like to talk and try to belittle. This sounded like a completely different person, one who got straight to the point. Blair _had_ told Serena that there were at least three people working together on the plane. So, maybe someone else had taken over these phone calls… but that must mean Vince wasn't in charge… which actually made a great deal of sense to Bart. Vince had come to the business with a gleaming resume, but he hadn't shown or put forth any of the brilliance that his resume exuded.

But if Vince wasn't in charge, who was?

"Have the money wired within the next half hour," the voice commanded.

"Not so fast," Bart said quickly.

Serena slapped her hand on the desk and glared at him.

Bart turned away from his desk, effectively cutting Serena out of his line of vision.

The voice remained silent, indicating that Bart should proceed.

"I want to speak to her. To make sure she's still alive." Bart gritted his teeth as he said the next part. If being demanding didn't work, the only other thing to do was to show a little desperation and loss of control… indicating that the kidnapper was definitely in control and would be doing Bart a _favor_ by giving in to his request. "Please," then he remembered something Eleanor said earlier and cleared his throat before he muttered, "let me talk to my little girl."

Chuck's mouth dropped open. Even though Bart had kept the words soft, they'd still resounded loudly throughout the room. Bart was definitely going above and beyond to help get Blair back. Well, the money was definitely proof enough that Bart was in this completely… but ten million dollars? To get back a one hundred and fifty three million dollar Boeing 787 BBJ? It seemed elementary to give in to the request.

But with his words, it seemed like Bart actually _cared_ about getting Blair back. He knew his father would have done all this other stuff anyway because it _was_ his plane and he probably wouldn't want to deal with a lawsuit from the Waldorfs if something happened to Blair, or some such crap. But Bart was laying it on thick here. He was not only putting out the money, he was making absolutely sure that Blair was okay and… did he just _beg?_

He did. His father had just begged to talk to Blair.

The significance of the gesture was not lost on him… neither was it lost on Serena as she blanched in shock before leaning back in her chair, any further anger she felt toward Bart leaving.

Chuck should have been ticked, because now it looked as though he might not get to witness any mock "father-daughter" arguments again, but he wasn't.

He would have begged himself.

Bart waited, hoping this new tactic would work. He wasn't going to send that money unless he was absolutely certain she was alive.

Bart heard silence for a long minute, then he heard some sort of movement, and what sounded like a tearing? And then he heard a stifled female shriek.

Bart tensed. He just hoped that the shriek could be explained and that Blair was okay.

"Talk," came a muffled voice. It sounded to Bart like the person was talking to someone else, not him.

Bart realized that he was going to get his wish. He relaxed slightly.

"Daddy?" Blair's voice rang out through the phone line.

Bart started to relax even more.

"Serena, have they hurt you in anyway," Bart asked, trying to be gentle.

"No," Blair said quickly. Her mouth was still hurting like the dickens. Tim had taken the tape off very fast and quickly. She wasn't sure if she would have preferred it slower, but she really would prefer not having tape on her face to begin with.

"Are you telling me the truth?" Bart asked. "You're not injured, _shot_… or otherwise…?" he started to say "touched" but then he realized that Eleanor and Lily still didn't know about that little detail. He'd rather not have them anymore upset than they already were, so he just trailed off his question.

"Yes, I'm telling the truth," Blair said.

"What about a second ago?" Bart asked. That was the best way to ask the question without alerting anyone else in the room to the weird shriek sound he'd heard.

Blair glanced at Tim, raising her eyebrows in question. She didn't know if she was allowed to explain. With Vince, she wouldn't have hesitated to tell Bart everything, but she still couldn't read Tim. It was driving her insane.

Tim nodded. He could hear the entire conversation through the speaker phone so he was following the conversation.

"It was tape, on my mouth," Blair said quickly. "Needed it off to talk."

Bart winced. That had to hurt like the dickens.

He hesitated. He wanted to keep her on the line, find out if she might be lying about being hurt… but he had a feeling the conversation was being monitored… plus, he knew she was alive at least.

"You're sure?" Bart said a bit more firmly.

"Yes," Blair answered.

Bart tried to think of a way to make absolutely certain that she wasn't hurt. He swiveled around and glanced at Serena. If there was one thing he knew about females, it was that they loved their fashion.

"Your mother is so upset she's cleaning. She can't remember which shoes you wanted to dispose of. The Michel Perry's or the dSquared New Beatles," he finally asked. Everyone in the room looked confused. He shrugged it off. This was his way of finding out if everything was okay—if she wanted to throw out the heels, then something was wrong with her. If she wanted to throw out the _men's _loafers—which hadn't even been released yet and she wouldn't wear anyway— then everything really was okay.

He hoped she understood what he was trying to say.

Blair, even in her current state of anxiety, couldn't help but smile. She had known Bart Bass from parties and other society functions, but she had never done more than make polite chit chat with the man… if she _had_ to. Apparently, Chuck got his wit from his father.

She knew exactly what Bart was trying to do, and she applauded him privately as she covered up her smile and forced a flabbergasted expression on her face. "Uh, the, uh, dSquared," she said. "Can I talk to mother?"

Tim quickly pressed the button to turn the speaker off and snatched up the base, putting the voice changer in place before speaking to Bart.

"Enough," the voice said.

Bart cleared his throat, relieved that she was smart enough to figure out his little riddle _and_ had answered with the men's shoe name.

"You have a half hour," the voice said before hanging up.

* * *

Blair walked back toward the lounge, with Tim close behind. She was relieved he didn't feel the need to prod her forward the way Vince did.

She really should be able to relax considering that Bart should have the money transferred soon. But the fact that her cell phone still hadn't been returned to its original location was making her more and more anxious.

Plus, she was wondering if the transfer of the funds could potentially mean that her use was about to end and she didn't know what they were going to do with her. Would they really let her go home?

Tim reached to the chair next to Vince and picked up the tape.

Blair shook her head, "I promise, I'll be quiet. I swear. Please don't put that on me again. I think I'm allergic." Her nose had stopped itching long ago, but she was not looking forward to the tape being removed again. She had a feeling her skin was still red from that, it still smarted too.

Tim didn't even pause or hesitate. He completely ignored her request and smoothed the tape over her mouth. She'd probably say something to piss Vince off again if he didn't put it on her and he really didn't need Vince getting hot under the collar as the final stages of the plan were falling into place.

Blair closed her eyes, and tensed. She just wanted to scream. She wanted to act as undignified as possible and start hitting Tim with her clasped hands. She was losing it and she knew it.

She just wanted to go home.

She forced herself to sink back in her chair and glower at Tim. The man wasn't even paying her any more attention. He just informed Vince that they were waiting on confirmation of the transfer, and he left the room… to make the call to the bank, she presumed.

She realized that Ben was looking at her pointedly and she directed her attention toward him.

Ben nodded slightly toward the floor and moved his eyes in the same direction, indicating that she should look in the same direction.

She looked and nearly groaned.

Ben had managed to toss her cell phone on top of the other phones in the bag on the floor.

She wanted to kick him. How was she supposed to get it now? She could have even tried to convey to him that _he_ should try to slip the phone back into Vince's pocket. That option was out the window now. And what would happen if Vince saw the phone? She wasn't a business man with their stodgy black and silver gizmos. She was a teenager and she had an orange EnVee. If Vince happened to look at the bag and saw her phone, he might recognize it.

Blair glared at Ben who just looked confused. He was really trying to screw up her plan. She was not pleased.

And she couldn't do anything. She couldn't say anything or scratch her nose or crack her knuckles—if she was so inclined to do so, though she never would be.

All she could do was sit there as the silence permeated the area.

Finally, after a while had passed, Tim came back into the room and told Vince that the funds had arrived.

Vince jumped out of his seat with a "Woo hoo!" And Tim just sat down, appearing to be unaffected though she thought she saw a pleased gleam in his eye. If she could, she would be asking him why he'd even decided to do this. He couldn't possibly get away with this, in her opinion. But maybe he knew something she didn't.

She just wanted off this plane and inside she was silently shouting "Woo hoo!" too, though a small part of her was still worried about whether they really would let her go.

Unfortunately, Vince's celebratory jig was interrupted by a familiar ring tone.

Blair looked at her phone in horror. _Ben hadn't turned it off!?_

She looked at Ben in disbelief.

Ben stared at the phone like it was a bomb about to explode. _Why didn't he turn it off? What was wrong with him?_

Tim just looked toward the bag and shrugged before sitting down. He thought most of the phones had already been turned off, but phones did ring and he didn't see a problem. He was too pleased that Bart Bass had given in to his demands. He'd finally gotten one over on the ass, and secured his future retirement. He didn't have to worry any longer that he was going to lose his job because the marketing positions were being replaced with new and _young_ up and comers, like Ben for instance.

Vince, however, did see a problem.

He looked at the phone in confusion. He'd seen that phone before. He'd taken it away from the girl when he'd first taken over the plane and her as a hostage.

But the phone was supposed to be on him, _not_ in that bag. And he was positive he hadn't tossed it in there.

"Serena," Vince began a little dangerously, glaring at the girl, "isn't that your phone?"

Blair's eyes flew to Vince before forcing a shrug. She couldn't say anything if she came up with an excuse anyway, so she decided to play it off as best as possible.

Ben gave Blair a slight look of confusion. He could have sworn her name was Blair. Why was Vince calling her Serena?

Tim observed the exchange and grew curious. He leaned forward and scooped the phone up out of the bag.

He laughed, possibly because he was still feeling the satisfaction of the plan, "Humphrey? What kind of a name is that?"

He gestured to Vince, "Take the tape off her mouth."

Vince wasted no time in grabbing the thing and pulling.

Blair yelped but not as loudly as the first time. All the teeny-tiny hairs had already been ripped out the first time.

"Who's Humphrey?" Tim asked.

Blair's mind raced. Why the hell was Dan calling her? And why _now_ of all times? And what should she say? If Tim answered that phone, he might find out that she wasn't Serena.

"Oh, that's my ex-boyfriend," Blair said quickly, not pretending as she looked disgusted. "Please don't answer that. I _so_ do not want to talk to him. He's a jerk."

Tim shrugged. He wasn't planning on answering the phone any way. He didn't have his voice changer and he didn't need some rich hoity-toity teenager hearing his real voice.

The phone stopped ringing then, going to voice mail, and Blair tried not to breathe a sigh of relief… it would come out her nose anyway. She hated this. She had to actually focus on breathing out of her nose instead of her mouth. Maybe that's why her nose was itching earlier?

"One thing I don't understand…" Vince said slowly. "How did your phone get there? I took that from you earlier, but I did not toss that in with the rest of the phones. So how did it just miraculously move from my jacket to that bag?"

Tim looked at Vince. "That's a very good question."

The phone started ringing again.

His eyes came to a rest on Blair's as he brought the phone up and answered.

"Bogart, what can I do for you?" Tim said, eyes never breaking from Blair's.

Dan sighed into the phone. "Let me guess. Blair got drunk and left her phone at the bar."

"Blair? Don't you mean, Serena, or maybe Sabrina, or Ilsa?" Tim said amused, using character names of Humphrey Bogart's leading lady's roles.

"What?" Dan asked, confused. "You lost me."

"You called Serena's phone," Tim explained.

"…um, no, I didn't," Dan stuttered, completely confused now. He even brought his phone away from his ear to look at the number he'd dialed. Yes, it definitely said Waldorf. "I called Blair."

"Well, Blair can't come to the phone right now," Tim said, eyes zeroing in on Blair's before hanging up.

Tim began looking through the phone, checking outgoing messages to see if any SOS's had gone out in the past 3 hours or so. There was nothing. Then he checked outgoing calls and frowned. The plane had been taken over by that time. The girl must have called while she was in the bathroom. That was the only time she'd been alone.

There was no telling what she'd said over the phone, but there was a way of telling who she had called, and that was the most interesting twist of all.

"Is there a reason you like to phone yourself," Tim began, finally addressing the girl, "_Serena?_"

Blair froze, completely at a loss for words.

"Or should I say _Blair_?" Tim asked. He tossed the phone back on the pile and walked right up to Blair, leaning forward into her face.

"Who are you?" Tim asked, his eyes were getting an odd glint in them that Blair didn't like at all. It was almost… dangerous.

"And don't make the mistake of lying to me again," Tim threatened.

Blair gulped.

* * *

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter 9

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

_Tim sighed and hung up the phone, pausing to look at the photo on his desk before returning to work._

_He looked up as he saw Bart Bass walking by with a younger man whom Tim had never seen before._

_Tim nodded in Bart's direction. After fifteen years of working for the man, it amazed Tim that he still got nervous in the boss' presence._

_He should have been pleased to see Bart give a small nod before leading the newbie to his office, but he wasn't._

_This was the third such younger man that Bart had been leading around for the past week. Tim knew something was up. The other two had already been given a few lucrative accounts that everyone else had their eye on. This newest addition, Tim later learned his name was Ben Huntington, wouldn't make anyone feel better._

_He didn't need Bart Bass to spell it out for him. Tim knew what this meant. He'd read countless articles about the changing times and how the corporate world was looking for 'fresh blood' with new and fresh ideas. _

_And he knew it was only a matter of time before his own time at the top was put to an end._

This couldn't come at a worse possible time, _he thought as he looked at the photo on his desk again. Camille, his wife, had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. She would need care and have tons of medical expenses. He wasn't old enough to retire just yet, though he only had maybe five more years. He wasn't sure whether he would be dismissed or allowed early retirement if it came to that… but he did know that the future looked bleak even though he was still healthy and in robust condition at his age._

_--_

_Later that week, the first shoe dropped._

_Two long time employees, both older than Tim, were let go. There were excuses and arguments, neither of which involved Bart Bass personally._

_Tim tried to step up his image, think outside the box more… tried to make his self _'marketable'. _Anything he could think of to stop the impending disaster._

_Then the other shoe dropped._

_Ben Huntington was given the Tokyo account._

_That was supposed to be Tim's._

_-- _

_Tim was invited on the Italy trip because, for all intents and purposes, he was still a part of the Bass marketing team. But Tim already knew it was only a matter of time._

_So he grew desperate. _

_He moved his wife out of the country, telling her he was retiring early but wanted to settle her in and do one last business trip before joining her._

_They had been blessed with no children, so he didn't need to worry about keeping in touch with them. And neither of them had much family except for his wife's nephew, Vince, who was maybe fifteen years younger than them. Tim decided to involve him in the plan knowing he would be loyal to his aunt and want what's best for her. Also, Vince wasn't known for his stellar record with the law._

_Tim created a false resume, using fake companies with phony numbers—numbers that led to voicemail for each company where Tim could later call back and give a reference._

_Vince, though not highly marketable in his own appearance, was given a false persona of being a marketing genius. He was hired almost immediately. _

_Tuscany was to be his first chance to show his _"true"_ colors._

_Tim had set everything up perfectly, even had Vince find a "friend" who knew how to pilot and would be willing to do so in this venture for a tidy illegally gained sum._

_While there was no love loss between Tim and Vince, the boy cared deeply for his aunt and wanted to make sure she was comfortable in her final years as well._

_Plus, Vince didn't mind getting a bit of a payday here either._

_So the wheels were set into motion and the details fell into place._

* * *

Tim hadn't wanted to reveal himself until the last possible second because these were men he'd worked with for a long time and didn't want to have to see the looks on their faces longer than he had to.

And even though he'd revealed himself early, he kept himself occupied by lecturing his numskull nephew-in-law and dealing with the girl.

He didn't really want anything to happen to the men, or to the girl. He wasn't out to hurt anyone and couldn't remember how many times he'd almost changed his mind about doing this. Oddly enough, he couldn't bring himself to feel bad for doing it.

Bart Bass had been playing him for a fool and he'd had enough!

"Who _are_ you?" Tim asked.

Blair's mind raced. He had told her not to lie to him, but how could she tell him the truth? What would happen then? Would he try to contact _her_ parents? Or, now that they had what they wanted, would they try to get rid of her some other way? She wasn't who they thought she was… and she didn't know how they would react. Vince would probably be a problem but Tim was still unknown territory. Vince seemed to be a loose canon and she was worried about how he would act when he found out she wasn't a Bass… he seemed to take a lot of pleasure out of hurting her. Would he feel as though there was no threat against him now? Would Tim let Vince hurt her?

"I _am_ Serena," Blair said in a haughty voice with a direct gaze. She knew she sucked at lying, but her life depended on her acting ability at the moment. She was just going to have to do her best and not allow them room for any doubt.

"Are you now," Tim said softly. "So, how do you explain this?" He waggled her phone in front of her face.

"Blair's my best friend. We have the exact same phone," Blair fluttered her eyelashes and waved a hand dismissively. "She helped me pack at my house before I left for the trip. Our phones got mixed up."

Tim pondered her words. He was pretty sure the girl was lying. He just wanted to find out beyond a shadow of a doubt for sure that this girl wasn't who she claimed to be.

His eyes were still trained on her unflinching gaze as he spoke to someone over his shoulder. "Ben, do you have any idea how this phone got into the bag?"

Ben jumped when Tim said his name and almost blanched. "I don't know."

"Right…" Tim drawled out, still not looking at Ben.

Neither he nor Vince had taken their eyes off of the girl long enough for her to put the phone in that bag, but Ben, now he didn't have eyes on him every single second _and_ he'd gone to the bathroom like the girl—where Tim assumed Blair had originally used the phone. Plus, Ben and the girl had been pretty chummy in the lounge area for most of the trip. He knew the younger man was lying. There wasn't any other explanation. But he wasn't going to sit there and argue with him.

"So, you're Serena," Tim said, redirecting his attention back to the girl.

"Yes," Blair nodded emphatically. She hoped she wasn't overdoing it.

Tim's face grew thoughtful as he looked back down at the phone.

He walked away from the girl and took a stroll around the room. He started searching through the phone. He wasn't used to this model, but that didn't mean he couldn't figure out where each section was. He found what he was looking for rather quickly, surprising even himself.

"So, this is your friend Blair's phone and you're Serena… Serena van der Woodsen… daughter of Lily van der Woodsen who just married Bart Bass, whose son is Charles Bass," Tim stated the facts again.

"_Yes_," Blair answered again.

"So how do you feel about your step brother?" Tim asked.

Blair almost stuttered. Why did Tim want to know that?

"He's… well he's… I don't really know. Our parents just got married," Blair improvised, her fear making her say the first thing to come to mind.

"Right," Tim said.

"So, since my new stepfather transferred the money, shouldn't you let me go now?" Blair said nervously.

"Well, yes… if Bart Bass really was your stepfather," Tim replied.

"He _is_," Blair insisted again.

"So how does your new daddy feel about his kids hooking up?" Tim asked, finally walking back around and stopping in front of her again.

Blair's mouth was drying out. She tried to swallow as she feigned confusion.

She needn't have tried.

Tim turned her phone around so Blair could see what he'd found.

Blair winced.

It was a picture of her and Chuck. They'd spent so much time together in the past week that it was only natural for her to snap some pictures of them. She'd forgotten about the one that Chuck snapped while he was kissing her.

"I repeat, who are you?" Tim asked. He doubted that the girls' best friend would have that particular picture on her phone.

"Serena van der Woodsen," Blair mumbled, feeling like she was beating a dead horse. "Our parents don't know about us yet, but we are planning on telling them soon. I just didn't think it was relevant right now."

"And Bogart?" Tim asked.

"He really is my ex," she lied through her teeth.

"See, I don't believe this," Tim finally said. "Any of this. And I'm getting impatient. I want answers and I want them now. Vince! Why don't you convince Ben over here to tell us what he knows since this little girl can't seem to do anything but lie?"

Ben nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt the cold metal against his temple. He hadn't been paying attention to Vince at all since Tim started questioning Blair. Apparently the man was just biding his time, and now he had his gun pressed against Ben's head.

Ben didn't turn to look at Vince. He wouldn't dare to do so for fear that the gun might accidentally go off then and there.

"So," Tim said, still not looking away from Blair. "How did the phone get in the bag?"

"I put it there," Ben said shakily. He had never had a gun put to his head before. And though he would rather not get the girl into further trouble, he didn't know her _that_ well to take a bullet to the head for her.

"I see," Tim said. "And what do you know about this Serena/Blair situation?"

Ben could feel a trickle of sweat slide down his forehead. He should lie. He should lie. He should lie… but if he was caught in a lie, he was expendable.

"I… I never met her until today, so I can't be su-u-ure," Ben stuttered out, breaking off when Vince pressed the metal harder against his flesh.

"Vince has not had a good day," Tim said. "He doesn't really like this girl, and he just wants to get off this plane. Just like I want off this plane. I'm sure you do too."

Ben's lips were dry as he tried to figure out what to say. He could see Blair's eyes staring at him, silently pleading for him not to give her away. He looked from her to Tim, and finally he glanced sideways at Vince.

"Do it, Vince," Tim snapped.

"Wait!" Ben exclaimed when he felt Vince shift. "Please don't! I'll tell you what I know!"

Blair clenched her eyes shut.

Vince halted in his movement and Tim glanced at Ben expectantly.

"Her name is Blair," Ben confirmed. "I don't know her last name."

Tim nodded. "What else?"

"She… she told me she's the guest of the younger Bass. He was supposed to be here. He missed the flight. She went on without him," Ben finished, the guilt kicking in his stomach made him want to vomit.

Tim turned back to Blair. "Finally. The truth."

Blair was frozen. She didn't know what to do or what to say or what was going to happen now. She had lost all control of this situation… as if she'd ever had any to begin with. She was scared out of her mind.

"Wha-t happens now?" she managed to ask, upset about the slight tremor in her voice.

Tim responded, anger in his voice, "Now I let Bart Bass know how much I appreciate him playing me for a fool." _Again._

If Bart Bass thought he was going to make a fool out of him, then _he_ would make a fool out of _Bart Bass_.

* * *

The natives were growing restless.

Everyone knew that the money had officially been delivered. Now everyone was just waiting for that one phone call that would tell them where they could finally get Blair and be done with this mess.

That is, if everything went smoothly.

The tension could be cut with a knife.

Eleanor wasn't saying a word. She was sitting ramrod straight and trying not to show any emotion whatsoever. She hadn't said anything since Bart told them the money was transferred and they just had to wait.

Lily was sitting with Serena. She was worried about her daughter. Serena had run the gamut of emotions this afternoon and she was so worn out. Lily hoped that everything worked out okay for Blair because she knew how important the girl was to her.

Now that the money had been sent, Bart was nervous for the first time since this mess started. He figured it was a lot of money and he could very well be played a fool here, but he hadn't any other option. He was trying to concentrate on his business reports again but his attention kept straying. At least he'd managed to settle things with Serena without even having to comment on her outburst.

He'd never had a daughter before and he'd never had someone scream at him in that way before. He didn't appreciate it, of course, but he understood her anger and frustration. He'd known that when he married Lily he'd be getting two more children. And while he definitely wasn't the world's best father material, he'd known that he would need to create some sort of relationship with them. His wife _was_ very instrumental in Parent/Teacher relations. He would need to embrace her interests the same as she would, hopefully, embrace his. And her children were extremely important to her.

Nate was about to pull Chuck into the side room again. They'd been on their way there so Nate could talk about the Gossip Girl text and make sure Chuck knew to not to tell Serena about it. After the time it'd taken for Nate to get Serena to calm down, convince her that Blair's predicament wasn't her fault, and get her to rejoin everyone in the study? Nate didn't want to have to deal with any of it again.

And that one little text from Gossip Girl would definitely send Serena off the deep end.

Eleanor gasped and jerked when a phone started ringing.

But it wasn't Bart's phone.

All eyes turned to Chuck as he shrugged. He'd forgotten to put the thing on vibrate. He would have just turned it completely off so he wasn't disturbed, but Blair _had_ called Serena before, she might try to call him next.

He wouldn't have been surprised really. Only Blair Waldorf would find a way to call _him_ in the middle of her own hijacking to tell him off for abandoning her in Italy. He wouldn't have minded though. He still wished he'd grabbed that phone from Serena earlier just so he could hear her voice. He'd never admit that to anyone else though.

He didn't even look to see who was calling because everyone was eyeing him. He could tell the sound of the ringing was destroying everyone's nerves.

"Bass," he said as he started to turn away, heading for that side room Nate seemed to want a private conversation in.

"Uh, hey, it's Dan," Dan said hesitantly.

Chuck pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it in confusion. Yes, it was his phone. Why was Humphrey Dumpty calling him? Normally he wouldn't have cared and been massively amused that the poor Brooklyn-ite had deigned to call him, but _now_ was not a time for amusement.

Especially since Bart's phone had just taken that moment to start ringing.

"Look, as much as I know I'll enjoy this conversation, I must go," Chuck muttered quickly, anxious to get off his phone to hear Bart's side of the call and make sure everything was running smoothly with Blair.

"Wait! Is Blair with you?" Dan asked. He assumed she would be considering he'd heard something about Tuscany soon and the two of them. He just hadn't known when the two would be leaving. He'd wanted to try to reach Blair before she left.

"Wh_at_?" Chuck almost stammered.

"Bass," Bart said into his own phone, eyes glaring at Chuck to either hang up or get out.

"How's it feel?" came the strangely distorted voice.

"How does what feel?" Bart asked, not liking the way this conversation was beginning.

"I think she lost her phone, some guy answered when I called. He thought she was Serena for some reason. You might want to tell Blair about the missing phone. But, can I talk to her?" Dan asked. "It's important."

"Knowing that you paid ten million dollars for the return of a girl who's been standing next to you this entire time," the voice said.

Bart winced and tried to quickly come up with an excuse. _How the hell did they find out she wasn't Serena?_

"This will be our last contact," the voice said.

"You idiot!" Chuck snapped at Dan.

"What about _Blair_?" Bart said quickly, voice rising, trying to drown out his son's voice.

"She's not your daughter," the voice said before hanging up.

"Wait!" Bart yelled, trying to get him to stop.

"Humphrey," Chuck tried to speak, but his level of frustration was making him stutter in absolute shock and anger. "Why the fuck…!" Chuck ground out angrily, not able to finish the question. Dan Humphrey had probably only called Blair Waldorf _once_ in his life, and he chose _now _to call her? When her life depended on _no_ calls? And why the hell wasn't her phone turned off?

Serena had snapped her head back and forth from Bart's yelling to Chuck's yelling, trying to follow.

Eleanor stood up. She hadn't been paying any attention to the younger Bass.

"Where is she?" she asked Bart, keeping her voice as even as possible.

Chuck closed his phone with a snap and gripped it, barely resisting the urge to throw the thing across the room. "Fuck!" he muttered.

Nate put his hand on Chuck's arm, "What's going on?"

Chuck finally managed to get past his anger enough to see that everyone in the room except for Eleanor was now looking at him.

"We may have a problem," Chuck managed to say, wanting to shove Dan off a bridge into the East River at this very moment.

"Where is she?" Eleanor asked Bart again, still ignoring Chuck. The only thing in the world that mattered to her was the connection to the kidnappers.

"They know she's not Serena," Bart said.

All eyes snapped to Bart now.

Chuck cursed again. He'd already known that, of course, but he was about to find out what that meant for Blair.

"_Where_ is _she_?" Eleanor finally lost her composure and yelled the question at Bart.

"I don't know," Bart said. "And they aren't going to call again."

"Why not!" Eleanor asked hysterically. "What did they _say_? How are we supposed to get her back?"

Bart sunk down into his chair and sighed.

"Its time to contact the police," he finally uttered.

* * *

"Finish up in here," Tim said before making his way to the front of the plane to go over some last minute details with the pilot.

Vince looked around. He grinned, barely resisting the urge to laugh. Everyone had their hands taped together and half of them had their legs taped to the bottom of their seats. This roll had definitely come in handy. And Bart Bass would have to re-upholster again probably.

He couldn't stop the laugh this time.

Blair didn't know why Vince was laughing and she didn't like the sound of it. She had no idea what was going on and she hated that. Tim had disappeared after his final words about Bart, presumably to make a phone call. But no one knew what was said. All they knew was that Tim had given the order for everyone to be taped up—_why the hell couldn't they have brought rope like normal kidnappers?_

She assumed that since Tim had made his way up front that he was talking to the pilot. Did that mean they were landing soon?

She really wanted to ask some questions, and she _could_ since Tim hadn't reapplied the tape to her mouth, but she was hoping that if she kept her mouth shut they would forget about it.

Evidently, that was purely wishful thinking on her part because no sooner had she thought it than it was her turn to get further "taped". Vince tore off a piece of the seemingly never ending duct tape and plastered it on her mouth again.

She felt a twinge of unease when he smoothed it on instead of smacking it in place. And then he kept his palm there for a second too long before he went back to tearing off more tape.

Her wrists were still taped together from earlier, so he didn't have to bother with those, but he still had to tape her legs to the seat just like everyone else.

She tensed when he knelt down in front of her and she wished she'd decided to wear a pant suit instead of a dress, though she kept her legs regularly waxed—especially for this trip—so removing the tape probably wouldn't hurt as much as it would on her wrists or face.

She tried to shift away but he grabbed her right leg and held it in place as he secured it, then he did the same to the left. She was so frustrated and completely helpless at that moment. At least she wasn't the only one, all the other men on the plane were probably feeling the same way. She focused on that thought, hoping it would make her feel better.

And it did.

Until, instead of standing up now that the taping was complete, Vince decided to take the opportunity to mess with her.

He really hated this girl. She'd made the entire business difficult from the get-go and made him look like an idiot too many times to count. So, he decided that since she wasn't who she was supposed to be, he'd give her a little bit of payback for all the trouble she caused.

Blair jerked and let out a muffled squeal against the tape on her mouth when she felt Vince's hand slide up her left leg.

And here she'd begun to think that telling Serena to tell Bart about the no 'touching' thing had been a bit pre-mature considering no other overtures had been made.

Until now, that was.

He didn't say anything, just grinned when he heard the squeak coming from her. He just kept moving his hand further up her skirt to the skin on top of her thigh.

He laughed when she clamped her thighs together and tried her best to cringe away from him.

"Get away from her."

Vince looked up, startled. He saw Tim making his way back into the lounge, stumbling along with the original pilot who Vince had previously knocked out. The man looked to be confused and dizzy. Tim plopped him in a chair and glared at Vince.

Blair would have breathed a sigh of relief if she could breathe through her mouth. Her entire body was still tense and Vince hadn't removed his hand yet, but it appeared as though Tim wasn't going to let him do anything to her. Blair thanked her lucky stars.

"What? Just having a little fun," Vince excused, feeling a flash of annoyance. While the money was definitely worth it and he didn't want to argue with his aunt's husband, he didn't appreciate Tim telling him what to do at every turn… which is why he _did _pull his hand back _but_ only to rest it on her knee.

"She's not a Bass," Tim said, glaring at Vince's hand pointedly until the boy finally removed it.

"So? She's still a little bitch," Vince said. And the fact that she'd lied in the first place was reason enough for him to have a little fun with her.

"This has nothing to do with her," Tim said with a warning on his face. "Leave her be and secure the pilot. ETA is five minutes."

Vince sighed and stood up, going to do Tim's bidding. While he was taking care of the pilot though, he made eye contact with the girl and smirked.

If looks could kill, Blair knew that disgusting excuse for a human being would be on his way to hell at that very moment. Unfortunately, she hadn't perfected the art of killing with a glare just yet. But it might happen if he didn't stop leering at her like that.

He finished with the pilot just in time to take his seat for the landing.

Blair's stomach dropped out a little as she felt the plane begin its descent, wondering where they were going to land and what was going to happen now that it appeared as though everyone on the plane was immobile.

"The bag of phones will be by the exit, along with a really long knife," Tim announced to everyone. "We will take our leave as soon as we land. Whoever is first to work their way out of their bindings can take the opportunity to call the police and then use the knife to help free everyone else. By then, we will be long gone, of course."

Blair looked at him, her eyes wide. At this very moment she couldn't even _move_ if she tried. How the hell were any of them supposed to get free? And where were they landing?

She tried to see out the window across the way, but only saw sky for the moment. She wouldn't know anything until they landed. Well, wait… she did know something. If they were near New York, the sky would be getting dark out. And since it was still light… she had to be close to the West Coast. Well, they'd certainly been in the air long enough to get there.

"It's been a pleasure working with all of you," Tim said to the other businessmen. "Sorry it had to end this way"

None of the men could respond, but if they could, the glares they were aiming at him told him what he'd be hearing.

And with that, the plane came to a stop and Tim and Vince and their pilot partner exited the plane, leaving everyone in a mild state of panic.

Blair was trying her best to hold onto her anxiety. She focused on looking out the window again. It appeared that the plane had been landed in a desert…somewhere.

_Great, just great!_ she thought. _On a plane, stuck in the middle of a God-forsaken wasteland!_

Maybe she still had a few lucky stars out there somewhere… just like the lucky stars hadn't forsaken her earlier with Vince… of course if her stars really were _lucky_ she wouldn't be in her current predicament to begin with.

Then she started wondering… if they were in the middle of the desert, where were the other men going?

No sooner had she thought it then she caught the glimpse of a Cessna taking off.

_Well, that answered that question._

* * *

"Tell me again why you didn't think it prudent to contact us before now?" the agent asked suspiciously.

"I was told not to," Bart explained, feeling nonplussed about lying to a federal agent.

Bart wasn't about to explain the US policy on negotiating with terrorists to the man. He should already know. It made no difference that the kidnappers appeared to be non-terrorists. Bart could still possibly get in trouble for paying them off if he acknowledged that he did it knowing that there was a possibility.

He looked around and saw that the children had left the area. He was rather pleased about that. Though he thought he'd managed to settle things with her by begging the kidnappers, he didn't want to take any chances. He didn't need Serena deciding to mouth off at him about waiting so long to contact the police… especially not in _front_ of the police. She had seemed a little distressed about something else before she left with the boys. It appeared to have something to do with the phone call Charles had received earlier.

"I see," the agent said. He wasn't a fool. He knew that this man, Bart Bass, was lying about playing the scared parent who followed a kidnapper's dictates. But, fortunately for him, from all the information the hostage had given, it was determined that terrorists were not involved. But that didn't mean Agent Cooper wasn't going to bust his balls about it.

"Sir, you do know that your silence may have just ended Ms. Waldorf's life?" he admonished. The fact that they had no idea whether the girl was even alive at the moment said it all. If the FBI had been at hand earlier, they would have known the proper way to negotiate this and hopefully come out on top.

Bart gave the man a bored look, not letting his words affect him.

"Or it may have saved it," Bart said simply. If he'd called the authorities earlier, there was no telling that they would have let him go through with the exchange.

"We'll see what we can do," Cooper finally said, deciding not to argue with the man. He left to join the other agents who had set up a "command center" of sorts with laptops and equipment that were trying to search for the missing plane.

* * *

"But—I don't understand…" Serena started but Nate kept dragging her arm. "Nate! I want to know what's happening."

"Don't worry about it," Nate said quickly. "You're stressed. Why don't you go change or floss or take a bath or whatever girls do when they're stressed?"

"_Nate_," Serena said, finally wrenching her arm away. "What I want to do is talk to Chuck."

"You don't need to; remember the last time you two talked?" Nate said, arching his eyebrows, hoping he could dissuade her.

"I just need to find out why Dan called him," Serena said. "I'm not going to fight with him, okay?"

She left Nate standing in the hallway and made her way to Chuck before he could stop her again.

Nate sighed and followed. He had a feeling he knew exactly why Dan had called Chuck. He still didn't know why Chuck had that reaction to the phone call right before Bart informed them that Blair wasn't as safe as they all hoped she would soon be. Chuck hadn't stuck around to explain. He'd gone straight into the other room.

Nate knew Serena was curious about the phone call, but she was too focused on questioning Bart and comforting Eleanor while they waited for the police to finally show up. Now, though, the police had arrived and Nate had tried to drag Serena away when she started toward Chuck.

It didn't work.

"Chuck," Serena said, walking straight up to him in the side room they had met in before. "What did Dan want? Why did he call you?"

Chuck looked up, still in a daze. He was sitting on the same couch as earlier, this time his mind wasn't really going full speed. He couldn't believe how horribly fucked up everything had become and for the first time he was really starting to wonder if Blair was ever going to come home.

He didn't bother answering his stepsister. He just turned away and continued to sit in his stupor. He wanted a drink. Now. _Where was a maid when you needed one?_

"_Chuck_," Serena whined just like he always imagined a bratty sibling would.

He finally looked up and began to respond, but he noticed Nate shaking his head at him. He paused and shrugged.

Serena saw him looking at Nate and swung around in time to see Nate giving Chuck one of those secret smiles that friends only give friends when they read their subliminal messages without speaking them out loud—she'd done that a few times with Blair.

"What?" Serena exclaimed. "Why are you acting weird and why did you hang up on Dan earlier?" She swung back around to Chuck for the last half of her question.

"Need a drink," Chuck murmured as he stood up.

"Oh, that's just perfect," Serena complained. "Go, get a drink! That _is_ what you do best!"

Chuck looked at her and smirked.

"Chuck, no," Nate said, knowing that look on his best friends' face.

"And what do you _do_ best?" Chuck drawled the question out with a smug look.

"W-what?" Serena stammered, not understanding the question.

"What do _you_ do best?" he asked again, very excited now at the prospect of getting her back for all her earlier jibes at him.

"I don't—" she started.

"You stand there and judge me, but what about you?" Chuck asked.

"That's enough!" Nate said, walking toward Chuck to stop the impending disaster.

"_You_ betray your best friend," Chuck stated, eyes glaring at her.

Serena froze. She could feel her earlier guilt starting to build again. _And why did he say 'betray' like it's in present tense?_

"And now you might have just got her—," Chuck said.

"Stop!" Nate said, quickly. "Serena, don't listen to him."

"No, I want to hear what he has to say," Serena said softly.

Chuck glared even harder, if that was possible, "That was your _boyfriend_ on the phone earlier. He called because he thought Blair might be with me. Apparently he tried _her_ phone but some guy answered." Chuck laughed humorlessly. "He wanted to know why the guy kept saying that it was _Serena_, not _Blair_."

Nate froze and looked at Chuck in shock. _So that's how they found out Blair wasn't Serena…_

Serena gasped.

"But… why? _Why?_ Why did he call her?" Serena whispered.

"Ch_u_ck…" Nate said, a warning in his voice.

"Guess you haven't seen it," Chuck said sarcastically.

"_Chuck_," Nate grabbed his arm. "Shut up, man."

"Check your messages," Chuck said flippantly before he left the room, throwing Nate's arm off. He needed that drink _now_.

"Nate?" Serena asked, bewildered. "What's he talking about?"

"Listen," Nate began gently, leading her over to the couch. "This isn't your fault. _None_ of this is your fault, okay?"

"You're scaring me," Serena said. "Where's my phone? Didn't you have it? Is that what he was talking about?"

Nate bowed his head as he dug her phone out of his pants.

"I'll show you, but…" Nate looked heavenward. "This is _not_ your fault and Blair will be okay. Blair Waldorf always comes out on top. You know that."

"Give it to me," Serena commanded, reaching for it.

He gave it up and sat idly by while she looked for and found the latest Gossip Girl post.

She paled and looked up, forgetting to breathe.

"Killed," Serena whispered.

"_What?_" Nate exclaimed.

"That's what Chuck was trying to say," Serena responded. "I might have gotten her killed."

"It's _not_ your fault," Nate insisted.

"No, Nate," Serena said sarcastically. "It's not my fault. But that doesn't change the fact that Gossip Girl posted a blast about _us_ being seen on a-a-a _date_, or whatever—a blast that is _not_ true… I mean… it's not true so it shouldn't matter, but who _knows_ what Blair's going to think. I don't need another reason for her to hate me." She could feel the tears welling again. "And… that's why Dan called her, isn't it? He called because he wanted to know if it was true. He probably figured Blair would know and… and… oh my God! If she dies because of this…" Serena sank forward onto her elbows and ran her hands through her hair. Who would have known that the simple activity of getting a smoothie with a friend would be construed so badly?

"Serena, she'll be fine," Nate said. "And yes, Gossip Girl posted a blast that wasn't true. That doesn't mean Blair will automatically believe it. And besides, why would she care now? Blair won't hate you."

"What if she doesn't believe _me_?" Serena said, completely ignoring his last words.

"Serena, she's with Chuck now," Nate explained. "Me and _Blair_ are long over, remember?"

Serena didn't answer. She couldn't. She didn't know how Blair would react. She just… didn't know.

"Gah, it doesn't matter anyway," Serena said as she got up in a huff. "We don't even know if she's alive to _be_ mad at us or not."

She paced in front of Nate for a half a second before stopping. "I'm going to my room. _Alone_. I'll be okay. Just… let me be alone for a while."

Nate nodded.

Serena left, passing Chuck in the doorway without a backward glance.

Chuck watched her leave with a smirk before sipping his scotch. He found the couch again and collapsed down, relishing his drink.

Nate studied him for a few minutes. He saw how Chuck's smirk mask fell away immediately and was replaced with the blank dazed expression from earlier.

"You doing okay, man?" Nate asked.

Chuck gave a slow shrug, not even bothering to look at Nate.

"The FBI and Bart Bass are trying to find her as we speak," Nate said pointedly. "If anyone can find her, it's your father." He hoped the joke would get through to Chuck, but it didn't.

"Yeah…" Chuck murmured. Then he took another sip before resting his head on the back of the couch.

Chuck knew somewhere deep down that Blair was probably going to come home. The universe didn't like him most days, so given the opportunity to get yelled at by Blair versus killing her off? Yeah, he was getting chewed out… tomorrow at the earliest.

The only thing he was really worried about was telling her the truth…

And finding out her reaction to Gossip Girls' post…

Because while the truth may make her end things with him…

Her reaction may make _him_ end things with _her_.

* * *

_To be continued…_


	10. Chapter 10

_This story is dedicated to __**pokey**__—for always being there when I'm freaking-out. lol ;) I love you my dear!_

* * *

**Definition of Forsaken:** to give up; to leave… to _abandon_

* * *

No sooner had everyone settled in for the long wait and search that was surely ahead of them, than the news came.

Agent Cooper delivered the news to Bart, Eleanor, and Lily that they had a possible on Blair, the plane, and the men. They were waiting for confirmation before they went to the location.

Eleanor gripped Lily's hand, grasping it hard enough to make Lily gasp. Lily didn't mind though. She was too anxious herself.

Bart went with Cooper over to the area the FBI had set up, and waited for the confirmation.

On the way, Cooper explained that they had traced the cell tower Blair had used to make her earlier call to Serena, which was somewhere in Ohio. They did this by contacting her wireless provider, Verizon. They knew that the plane would be traveling that much faster and using the GPS to locate her might be difficult, plus, it was largely assumed that the kidnappers would have turned the phones off to avoid being tracked.

However, they had just ran the GPS data and it appeared as though the phone was, in fact, still turned on and had been targeted to a deserted area in New Mexico. They wanted to get visual confirmation from local authorities before heading there, but all looked well.

Of course, the kidnappers could have just decided to dump the phones in New Mexico and were traveling away instead of still in the state, which is why they were just waiting on the phone call before heading out.

Now, the situation they could potentially walk into, that was another story altogether.

* * *

Bart walked to the doorway to the side room he'd seen Charles disappear to earlier.

"Charles?" Bart said.

"Sir," Chuck said, swirling his glass and not even bothering to look at his father.

Nate was sitting with him and he looked up at Bart's question. "Blair?"

Bart nodded. Chuck looked up quickly at Nate's question and saw his father nod.

Chuck paused in his swirling and waited for his father to continue.

"They found her," Bart said. "She's fine."

Nate let out a sigh of relief, busting into a grin. Chuck was relieved, but he wasn't one to share his feelings, especially not with all the heavy thoughts weighing on him.

"What now?" Chuck asked, putting down his glass and slowly rising to his feet.

"She's in New Mexico," Bart explained. "Eleanor and I are leaving with the FBI to retrieve her and the men and settle things with the plane."

There was a beat of silence.

"Father, I—," Chuck started. He wanted to go with them. He had to see her. He couldn't take this much longer. He had a passing thought that they must not have told Serena yet or else he'd have heard her… displeasure at not going as well.

"Lily and I have decided it would be for the best if you and Serena stayed here," Bart explained hastily.

Chuck gave his father a disgruntled look. She had only been his stepmother for a week and she was deciding things like this for him?

"The plane was abandoned by the hijackers," Bart explained. "No one knows where they took off to or whether these people could circle around and come after you or Serena again. Lily… and _I_," he included himself at the last second, "would prefer that you both stay here. Lily will stay here as well, with a security detail to prevent any further problems."

Chuck didn't know whether to laugh or go tell Lily that she needed to mind her own business. It was obvious to him that Bart didn't agree with Lily's decision. And why _would_ he? It was preposterous. Especially if he and Serena were _with_ Bart and, oh, maybe the _FBI_? That would probably be the safest place for them.

"And what about Eric?" Chuck said with a sarcastic smirk, trying to not overdo it in his father's presence.

"He will remain at his grandmother's in Rhode Island until this situation has been diffused," Bart said tightly, leaving no room for argument. Eric had been visiting his grandmother most of the week, and when word came about Blair, Lily had told CeCe to keep him close to home and keep an eye out.

"Yes, father," Chuck forced himself to say sullenly.

He watched his father leave the room. He felt Nate's hand come up and clasp him on the shoulder.

"It's only a matter of time, man," Nate said, attempting to lighten the mood.

Chuck just nodded. Now that it looked like everything was okay, he was starting to get anxious about her return. Since when did he ever get nervous?

Probably since she started making his stomach do somersaults…

* * *

Not one person on board had managed to get the tape undone.

Blair was not surprised.

She was just glad that they hadn't needed to wait longer than two hours before local authorities had shown up. Of course at the time it felt like an eternity and she was ready to go insane with the rest of them at that point.

The sound of men yelping as the tape was removed made Blair smile. She was trying to find any form of hilarity in the situation that she could.

Of course _they_ had pants on, so she would get to suffer double.

One of the officers got to her and asked, "Miss Waldorf?"

She nodded. He started reaching for the tape on her mouth as he explained, "Your mother is on her way."

She shrank back from his hand and shook her head emphatically. He looked at her in confusion. "You don't want me to remove the tape?"

She rolled her eyes. _Stupid local deputies._

She nodded her head toward the floor and her legs.

He finally understood that she wanted him to remove the tape on her legs and wrists before her mouth. "Okay…"

Blair was glad for the tape covering her mouth because she didn't want to suffer the indignity of screaming like a banshee as he got rid of the rest of the tape. She could feel tears coming to her eyes at the pain. _That's it!_ From now on if anyone decided to kidnap her they were going to have to use rope.

She would insist upon it.

* * *

As rescues went, this one was relatively boring.

Her knight in shining armor was a dimwitted local deputy who led her off the plane and into a department issue SUV.

She nearly rolled her eyes when she had to share a vehicle with three other men, including _Ben_.

"Um, Blair—," Ben started, nervous about what to say.

"Don't talk to me," she dismissed him.

He shut up after that and she enjoyed the rest of the journey in silence.

She had to gulp back a cringe of disgust when they finally arrived at the police station. It was small, dirty looking, and definitely had a lot of… old west character… to say the least.

She was told she'd have to wait in this little place until her mother and Bart Bass arrived. She informed them that she would wait, but she wanted her cell phone—which she had forgotten to retrieve before leaving the plane—immediately.

She settled onto a bench—after wiping it clean—and ignored everyone, trying to lose herself in her thoughts.

Eventually her phone was delivered to her and she tried to think of who she would call first. It was the longest and possibly worst day of her life—besides the day her father left and the day she found out Nate cheated on her… oh, and the day Chuck humiliated her in front of the entire school, she mustn't forget that one. She was just dead tired and wanted to rest and wasn't sure why she'd insisted on the phone, but she felt better when she was in charge. Now, if only she could sleep.

Of course, she wasn't going to sleep on a bench.

She decided that she was going to call Cabbage Patch first. Evidently he'd wanted to speak to her in a bad way, and since he was the reason she'd been stranded in a desert for over two hours with no hope of being retrieved, she wanted to know what the big deal was. Plus… she was still perturbed at Chuck for not following her to Tuscany. She knew that meant something bad, but until she'd had a chance to talk to him, she wasn't going to know what it _really_ meant… and she'd rather have the conversation face-to-face and not over the phone.

"Hello?" came Dan's hesitant voice.

"Humphrey," Blair said smartly. "You called?"

"Uh, yeah," Dan stammered. "So you got your phone back… have you talked to Chuck?"

"Yes, I did, and no, I haven't," Blair replied impatiently.

"Oh," Dan stuttered.

"Was there something you wanted? Some reason you just _had_ to call?" Blair snapped the question.

"I… assumed you'd seen the Gossip Girl post and I wanted to know… if it was true," Dan managed to say.

He knew he was being an idiot because _he'd_ been the one to end things with Serena, so he shouldn't be jealous or even surprised to learn that she was potentially seeing someone else. He figured since he'd called Blair for help once before and they had this odd little understanding between each other that maybe she'd talk to him even though he was no longer seeing Serena. Plus, he didn't know how she felt about this latest development. Blair _could_ be just as upset about it as him.

"Dan Humphrey," Blair snapped, "please do _not_ tell me that you called me in the middle of being held hostage on a plane because of some post from _Gossip Girl_? You have got to be kidding me. I don't even know what you're talking about but I don't want to know. You and Serena are over. Any association I need to have with you has ended. Lose the number, and _don't_ call me again." She closed her phone and gripped it in disgust.

For a boy who was second in his class, he was such an idiot at times. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to associate with him anymore.

But her interest was piqued.

What was in the Gossip Girl post? Some new lie about Serena? He really should have just called Serena about it. Then she realized… Serena had to deal with some new gossip while she was worrying about her. Blair felt anger toward Gossip Girl soar. Serena had to deal with enough things in the past week. Dan Humphrey had hurt her badly… her heart was broken, and though Blair had tried to help, she still had her own new… quasi-relationship?... with Chuck to wrap herself up in. She was so angry at this stupid no-name person who couldn't mind her own damn business!

But that didn't stop her from reading the post.

**Gossip Girl here. I spy with my little eye… N and S out for the afternoon, walking the heated streets of NYC with smoothies in hand. Brain freeze anyone? Do we spot a potential new couple? And C and B are leaving for Tuscany soon. With B and Lonely Boy out of the picture, is S putting the moves on her BFFs ex? Wonder what our Queen has to say about that… Until next time, you know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl.**

Blair closed her phone slowly and looked out the window just in time to see Eleanor and Bart exit a car. They had finally arrived and she would be going home.

Yet, even after Eleanor and Bart left the window's view, Blair continued to stare out the window, alone in her thoughts.

* * *

It was time.

Chuck shifted restlessly in the elevator.

He was about to see Blair.

He knew she'd gotten in really late last night. He also knew that Eleanor Waldorf whisked her away and put her to bed immediately. Bart said something about Blair falling asleep on the plane and just being really tired.

Chuck didn't know much more besides the fact that Blair hadn't spoken to anyone _except_ Eleanor and Bart and that she was home safely.

Serena wanted to call, but she was worried she might disturb Blair… plus, she was unsure about how Blair felt toward her. Chuck didn't have to guess at her feelings on the subject, he'd been stuck waiting with her and Nate for news and she'd said those words plainly enough.

Fortunately, she'd shut up after that.

But Chuck was still nervous.

He was going to have to tell Blair the truth, but he was also going to have to find out if Blair wasn't over Nate.

He didn't know which he wanted to talk about first. Either way, he had a feeling that things were not going to turn out well.

The doors finally opened and he walked inside.

There was no turning back now.

* * *

"Miss Blair," Dorota's accented voice spoke softly from the bedroom doorway.

Blair was awake; she had been for a few hours now. It was roughly one in the afternoon. She hadn't risen from bed yet because she'd rather burrow under the covers even if she couldn't sleep any more.

"Yes?" Blair asked, looking at the housekeeper. She wasn't an idiot. She'd heard the elevator ding. She knew that someone had arrived. She was pretty sure she knew who it was, but she decided to wait for confirmation.

"Mr. Chuck is here," Dorota said.

Blair nodded, barely covering her smile at the way Dorota pronounced the "ck" sounds in his name. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Very good," Dorota said before leaving. She hadn't wanted to shout for Blair. She was so happy to see her home, safe and sound, that she took every opportunity possible to check in on her and make sure she was comfortable.

Blair waited for Dorota to leave and decided to stay right where she was for an extra minute or two. She didn't know what to say to Chuck. She wasn't in the mood for an argument. He'd been different this past week, that was true, but when he didn't show up or follow her… that had changed everything. He'd blindsided her, and she didn't like it at all.

So between the dread of having to deal with more drama and choosing what to wear to go downstairs, she just laid where she was, hiding under the covers for a few minutes more.

* * *

Chuck was starting to get a little impatient, though he was hiding it rather well. He'd started off standing, then he sat down, and now he was back to standing again.

Dorota had come down the stairs after announcing his arrival at least fifteen minutes ago. Why hadn't she come down yet? Should he just go up there? He normally wouldn't have thought twice about it, but he didn't want to rile her and she _had_ just been held hostage. He needed to just stay where he was at and wait for her to come to him.

"Chuck," she said softly.

He turned around quickly. He hadn't even noticed her coming down, so intent was he on not running up the damn steps himself.

She was beautiful, as always, though he couldn't tell why it had taken her fifteen minutes—make that twenty—to come down when she was still in her very fashionable but less than flattering pin-striped pajamas.

It didn't matter though. He took one look at her and hesitated for five seconds flat before he walked right over to her.

"Hey," he murmured. In that moment, he could forget about his purpose for being there and just remember the part where he was relieved that she was alive and with him.

He reached up and trailed his fingers down her jaw before brushing his lips across hers.

She let out a breath, one that she didn't even know she was holding, and relaxed for the moment. She'd ended up not changing her clothes at all. She knew she'd taken too long to decide and figured it wouldn't matter what she was wearing, she just wanted to be snug in her pajamas so she could go back to bed when he left.

And as much as she knew an argument was coming, she wanted this moment of peace first. So when he pulled her against him, she didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around him and burrow her face against his shoulder.

_Why did he ever do anything to jeopardize this? _he thought. _Why was he ever scared of this?_ He couldn't help but feel as though nothing felt more right than to have her right where she was. He didn't want this feeling to go away. He didn't want to tell her that he'd doubted her and them.

But he had to. Or else Serena would.

"I'm sorry," he murmured against her hair. And he was. He wasn't one to apologize, but everything that had happened in the past day… it was too much. He'd almost betrayed her, and then she'd been held at gun point in _his_ place.

She didn't respond, just burrowed deeper against him, wishing he'd shut up and let them have this moment for just a little while longer.

"There's something I need to tell you," he finally forced himself to say.

And then she knew.

She froze against him, not wanting to hear what he was saying but knowing that there wasn't any way he could take it back now.

She pulled away from him, not even looking at his face.

"Blair, I—," he started, but stopped talking when she turned away.

"Don't say it," she murmured before she started for the stairs.

She'd heard those words before, those same exact words, and she knew what they meant.

"Say what?" he asked, perplexed. How did she know what he was going to say?

She paused. "I've heard it before," she whispered. "I don't need to hear it again."

"Listen," he said, going up the steps behind her and taking hold of her hand to stop her. "It's not what you think." He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he figured her reaction meant she had worked some of what he was trying to say out in her head.

She pulled her arm away but she didn't keep going up the stairs. Instead, she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself before she turned around.

"Why?" she asked. She cursed herself when she felt a burning in her eyes. She hoped that she could make it go away before she made an even bigger fool of herself by starting to cry. "Why would you do this to me?"

"That's what I'm saying, I didn't do anything," he insisted. "Just settle down. I'll explain everything."

"I don't want to hear about _it_," she snapped. "I want to know why you would do this. It makes no sense! And why did you have to come _now_ to tell me? After everything that happened yesterday? Yes, let's hurt Blair a little more today, as if she hasn't been through enough!"

"I didn't _do_ _anyt_hing," he insisted, though he felt a pang at the thought that he was hurting her even though he didn't want to.

"Then what do you have to tell me?" she asked. "What's _so_ important that you just _have_ to tell me?"

"I almost did something, but I didn't," he finally said, knowing he sounded like an idiot.

"That doesn't make any sense at all," Blair rolled her eyes. As if he wasn't already sounding like Nate with his 'I've got something to tell you', now he was just saying stupid things that made no sense.

"None of this makes sense," he said, frustrated because he still didn't know what to say to her or how to explain.

"Just tell me this," Blair said. "Did your father get in late? Is that why you missed the flight?"

"No," he murmured.

"Was there traffic? Was there an accident on the way? Was there something, _anything_, that happened that was completely out of your control that made you miss the flight?" she asked.

"No," he repeated.

"Did you even bother booking a later flight? Were you going to meet me?" she asked.

He didn't say anything, but she could read the answer in his eyes.

"So much for doing it _right_," she said, disgusted.

"I _do_ want to do it right," he said.

"Do you even know what _right_ is?" she asked.

"I don't know what I'm doing," he admitted, feeling slightly off balanced.

"What's right is _not_ abandoning me on a flight to another country," she snapped. "What's right is _not_ doing God knows what with God knows who when a week ago you told me that you wanted _us_ to be together."

"Look, Tuscany was too soon," he said. "And I—"

"Tuscany was _your_ idea!" she said angrily. "If you thought it was too soon, then why even suggest it?"

"Spur of the moment?" he tried to excuse.

She raised a hand to her head. "I _so_ do not need this right now." She turned away again.

"Why? Too much bad news? Angry at Serena? I was right to think it was too soon, wasn't I?" he snapped, angry that she was walking away and still plagued by his insecurities. "You're still not over Nate."

She turned back to him sharply. "_What?_"

"You're not over Nate," he accused again.

She opened and closed her mouth, trying to speak, but finding herself absolutely speechless.

"Go ahead, go upstairs," he snapped. "I don't know why we even tried this again. I'm not going to change for you, and I won't ever be Nate." He knew he sounded bitter, but he couldn't help it.

She knew she'd just lost control of one tear. She could feel it slipping out of the corner of her eye. But that was the only one that was going to break free.

"I got off the phone with Serena right before you arrived," she said softly.

He paused and waited, wondering why she was telling him this now.

"I told her that she could date whoever she wanted," she whispered. "Nate's not my boyfriend anymore."

It had nearly killed her to say it, but she knew it was time to let Nate go. Of course after she said that, Serena had rushed to tell her that the post was a lie and they were just friends. To which Blair had replied that Dan might not be as over _her_ as Serena thought he was. That maybe she should call him. Serena said she'd think about it.

She wasn't telling Serena that to get her away from Nate or anything—she just knew that if Dan would call _her_ in a jealous mess over Serena that there might still be hope. And Serena did still love Dan so… she'd decided to help her best friend out a little.

Chuck was shocked, and he felt like that area of his chest that probably housed his heart was about to explode with joy or happiness or whatever other foreign feelings that equated to the same thing. _She'd told Serena that? But that meant…_

"I can't _deal _with arguing with you right now because I've just returned from being held _hostage_ with a _gun_ in my face and scared for my _life!_ All I want to do is go back to my room and pretend yesterday never happened because it was horrible and disgusting and just….," she cut off in a flurry of frustration, "I don't want to _hear_ about what you did or _didn't_ do with some other girl, because right now I just need to deal with me," she rushed through her words.

"Nothing happened," he was quick to interject, the only words that could make their way out of his mouth.

"Yes, something did happen," she said. "You left me alone. And then you came over here to tell me about what you _almost_ did and you don't even ask what happened on the _plane_?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"What happened?" he asked softly. Truthfully, he'd been avoiding asking about it. He knew she was safe and alive. He didn't know if what she'd said to Serena about being… touched… had happened. And since the FBI still hadn't tracked down the missing men—who appear to have flown into Mexico and disappeared—he'd rather not know.

She sighed and sat on the steps. "I don't want to talk about it."

He rolled his eyes. If she didn't want to talk about it then why was she so upset that he hadn't asked?

"And I never _told _you to change or to be someone else! I never asked you to _take it slow_ or _do it right_ either," she said sarcastically. "All I did was forgive you and let you know that I was willing to give us another chance, knowing exactly _who_ you are and what you'd already done to me. The only thing I ever needed from you was for you to always tell me the truth and not cheat on me."

"Blair, I want to make this work," he said firmly, eyeing her with the pointed stare that could melt a thousand hearts. "I _can_ make this work. I want to be with _you_."

She shook her head. "But I don't want to be with you."

"You don't mean that," he said softly, the joy that was in his heart moments ago upon hearing that she was over Nate enough to let her best friend date him had become this odd dull ache. He couldn't believe what she was saying. She was telling him that everything he'd ever worried or wondered about in this past week was false. She was telling him that she _was_ over Nate and that she'd wanted _him—Chuck Bass_. And she was telling him that she wanted him for exactly who he was.

"I've been through enough," she said, barely holding on to the rest of the tears. "And I'm so tired of this. Go and do whatever the hell you want to do. That's what everyone else does anyway. I'm used to it by now."

"Forget about all this crap. Come to Tuscany with me, for real this time," he said, hoping that he could convince her with a wink and a hopeful smile.

"Sorry," she snarked sarcastically. "Tried that already. Now, I just need a break. A long _long_ break," she said, standing up again and stepping up a stair.

"I was just…" he closed his eyes. He couldn't say it, "…confused." _There_, that was better than admitting he was scared. He opened his eyes again.

Blair just shook her head. She was sad and tired and wanted to climb into bed and forget this nightmare had ever happened.

"Say something," he insisted. He wanted her to just forgive him, pretend the last twenty four hours had never happened, to start back where they were twenty five hours ago before his father had returned from his honeymoon.

She was looking to the side, down into the hall, not wanting to look at him.

"My mother will escort me to France so I can spend some time with my father," she began. "I've made arrangements with Serena to join her later this summer in the Hamptons."

"Then—," he started.

"My summer plans don't include you," she said firmly.

"Would you stop?" he said. "Waldorf, you know how I feel about you."

She stared at him for a long moment, putting him on edge and hoping he hadn't screwed things up irreparably.

"Do I?" she whispered.

"Yes," he murmured, closing the distance between them on the stairs and standing close to her, making eye contact.

She looked away from him again, anywhere but at him.

"Look at me," he whispered. He ran his fingers down her cheek, turning her head gently to look at him again.

She knew he was going to kiss her again… but she couldn't let him.

She turned her head back at the last minute and pulled away.

"No," she said. "I'm not doing this right now. I _can't_ do this right now."

"Blair…"

"Goodbye, Chuck," she said, walking up one step. "Have a nice summer."

He wanted to get angry. He wanted to yell. He wanted to tell her that now _she_ was the one not making sense. He wanted to do a lot of things, but he knew he'd lost and doing anything at the moment would only make things worse.

He struggled to find some miraculous words that would fix this, but he couldn't.

And then she was walking away, up the stairs and back to her room. Not even acknowledging him any longer.

He had an odd flash of all the times he'd seen her walking away from him like that.

The morning after their first time, through his limo window; at her birthday party when he made that bet with her; at her house when he embarrassed her in front of the reporter; at the Cotillion when she broke up with him; at school the day he'd humiliated her: she was always walking away from him, always abandoning him.

He wasn't even sure what had just happened. He didn't know why she'd turned away from him this time, especially if she didn't care about what he'd _almost_ done—admittedly, that story turned out to be rather lame.

She always walked away from him like that when she was trying to dismiss him, when she was showing him that she didn't care… but he'd just heard her say that she did care… that he was capable of hurting her. Did this mean that all those times before, she _had_ cared but she'd still turned her back on him?

Sort of like what he'd done to her yesterday…

He'd give her whatever the hell break she needed right now.

He wasn't going to go back up there and _beg_ her to change her mind. That wasn't him.

But he would see her in the Hamptons; that's for sure.

And then all bets were off.

* * *

_Finished._

**Catch Chuck and Blair in the Hamptons, on the CW, Monday nights at 8pm, starting ****September 1****st**** 2008****. (USA)**


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